Maggie Stiefvater

Margaret Stiefvater (/ˈstiːvɑːtər/ STEE-vah-tər; née Hummel; born November 18, 1981) is an American writer of young adult fiction. She is best known for her fantasy series The Wolves of Mercy Falls and The Raven Cycle.

Early life and education

Maggie Stiefvater was born Heidi Hummel on November 18, 1981, in Virginia. At 16, she legally changed her first name to Margaret. As a child, Stiefvater was a voracious reader who enjoyed writing. By age 16, she was submitting manuscripts to publishers. After being home-schooled from sixth grade on, Stiefvater attended Mary Washington College, graduating with a B.A. in history. By the time she had entered college, she had already written over 30 novels, including four thrillers about the Irish Republican Army, a historical blockade runner novel, and a high-fantasy novel about "impassioned enchanters fighting among civil unrest." After graduating, she worked as a portrait artist, specializing in equestrian art.

In 2010, she gave a TEDx Talk for NASA entitled "How Bad Teens Become Famous People", in which she reflects on her youth as a "Bad Teen" and how those years have impacted her.

Writing career

Stiefvater published her first novel, Lament, in 2008. Before Lament had been released, she sold the rights to Ballad, the sequel to Lament, and to Shiver, the first book in the trilogy The Wolves of Mercy Falls. Shiver spent more than 40 weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list. There are over 1.7 million copies of The Wolves of Mercy Falls series in print and more than thirty-six foreign editions have been licensed.

In 2011, Stiefvater published The Scorpio Races, which received 5 starred reviews and was named a Michael L. Printz Award Honor Book.

Stiefvater has written on her blog about her techniques and methods when writing. In 2018 and 2019, Maggie Stiefvater gave writing seminars entitled Portraits & Dreams: Writing with Maggie Stiefvater. It included a lecture and a Q&A. She gave this lecture in Edinburgh, New York City, Seattle, Austin, Los Angeles, Brooklyn, Toronto, and Vancouver.

Music

Stiefvater plays various musical instruments. She recorded original compositions for the audio books of The Scorpio Races and The Raven Cycle.She has a SoundCloud account where she releases her original tracks. Stiefvater has released playlists for some of her novels of songs she listened to while writing.

Art

Before turning to writing full-time, Stiefvater was a professional portrait artist, specializing in colored pencil.

Stiefvater created a Tarot card deck, The Raven's Prophecy Tarot Cards, in September 2015.

She was asked to create a poster for the American Library Association to promote reading. The poster includes characters from The Raven Cycle and the phrase "The future belongs to those who read."

Cars

Stiefvater greatly enjoys cars, especially fast ones. She has completed a stunt driving class. She has worked as an automotive journalist.

Stiefvater has frequently used her passion for vehicles to promote her novels. To promote the second book of The Raven Cycle, The Dream Thieves, Stiefvater spray-painted her own car. She later allowed fans to also spray-paint the vehicle at the book's launch in Kansas City on September 18, 2013.She repeated this for another event in October 2016, where she let fans paint her Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X. In 2013 Stiefvater went rally racing in a race car printed with the cover of The Raven Boys.

In 2015, Stiefvater drove her Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X in a race against fellow author John Green at the Princeton Speedway in Princeton, Minnesota. Both of their vehicles caught fire.

Personal life

Stiefvater is married to Edward Stiefvater, with whom she has two children. The two became engaged when she was nineteen.

Books of Faerie series

1. Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception (2008)
2. Ballad: A Gathering of Faerie (2009)

The Wolves of Mercy Falls series

1. Shiver (2009)
2. Linger (2010)
3. Forever (2011)

• Sinner (2014)

The Raven Cycle series

1. The Raven Boys (2012)
2. The Dream Thieves (2013)
3. Blue Lily, Lily Blue (2014)
4. The Raven King (2016)

• Opal (a Raven Cycle Story) (2018), novella

The Dreamer Trilogy

1. Call Down The Hawk (2019)
2. Mister Impossible (2021)
3. Greywaren (2022)

Pip Bartlett series

1. Pip Bartlett's Guide to Magical Creatures (2015), with Jackson Pearce
2. Pip Bartlett's Guide to Unicorn Training (2017), with Jackson Pearce
3. Pip Bartlett's Guide to Sea Monsters (2018), with Jackson Pearce

Other novels

• The Scorpio Races (2011)
• Spirit Animals Book 2: Hunted (2014)
• All the Crooked Saints (2017)
• Bravely (2022)

Anthologies

• An Infinite Thread: A Merry Sisters of Fate Anthology (2008), with Tessa Gratton and Brenna Yovanoff
• The Curiosities: A Collection of Stories (2012), with Tessa Gratton and Brenna Yovanoff
  • "A Murder of Gods" (2009)
  • "A History of Love" (2009)
  • "The Wind Takes Our Cries" (2010)
  • "The Deadlier of the Species" (2010)
  • "The Last Day of Spring" (2009)
  • "Philosopher's Flight" (2010)
  • "Rain Maker" (2008)
  • "Council of Youth" (2008)
  • "Heart-Shaped Box" (2008)
  • "Another Sun" (2012)
• The Anatomy of Curiosity (2015), with Tessa Gratton and Brenna Yovanoff
  • "Ladylike" (2015)

Short stories

• "The Hounds of Ulster", published in Kiss Me Deadly: 13 Tales of Paranormal Love (2010)
• "Non Quis, Sed Quid", published in Demons: Encounters with the Devil and His Minions, Fallen Angels, and the Possessed (2011)

Graphic novel

• Swamp Thing: Twin Branches (2020), with artist Morgan Beem

Non-fiction

• "L.A. Confidential" (February 10, 2012 online), published in The New York Times Book Review (February 12, 2012)
• "Driving Porsches On Ice, Finding The Inside Edge" (February 3, 2016), for Yahoo! Auto
• "Why I Fuck Up My Cars" (May 11, 2016), for Jalopnik
• "Why The Hell Do We Drive?" (June 22, 2016), for Jalopnik
• "Drive Your Fucking Classic Car" (July 21, 2016), for Jalopnik
• "How Not To Be Afraid Of Driving" (August 22, 2016), for Jalopnik
• "Automotive Suffering Is Good For Kids" (September 27, 2016), for Jalopnik
• "Why You Should Give Your Car A Shitty Paint Job" (June 1, 2017), for Jalopnik
• "Sexualized Language Colors Women's Role in Auto World" (October 22, 2017), for Automotive News
• "The Rolls-Royce Cullinan Is Spectacular" (October 19, 2018 online), published in Road & Track (June 2018)
• "Driving the Last Brand-New Mitsubishi Evo to its Grave" (January 10, 2019 online), published in Road & Track
• "Proper Cool", published in Road & Track (March/April 2019)
• "Dancing in the Dark", published in Road & Track (September 2019)

In association with Paramount, Unique Features optioned Shiver's film rights shortly after the book was released. A screenplay was written by Nick Pustay.

It was reported in 2011 that David Katzenberg and Seth Grahame-Smith’s KatzSmith Productions would produce a film of Scorpio Races. New Line Cinema, in conjunction with Weed Road, optioned the film rights for The Raven Boys shortly before the book's release in September 2012.

In 2019, Stiefvater wrote the pilot for a TV show of The Raven Cycle.

Shiver

• Debuted at #9 on the New York Times bestseller list
• Indies Choice Book Award Finalist
• ALA 2010 Best Books for Young Adults
• ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Readers
• Amazon Top Ten Books for Teens
• Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2009
• Border's Original Voices Pick & Finalist
• Barnes & Noble 2009 Top Twenty Books for Teens
• CBC Children's Choice Awards Finalist
• 2010 SIBA Book Award, Finalist
• Glamour's Best Book to Curl Up With
• VOYA's Perfect Ten, 2009
• BDB Top Young Reads of 2009

Lament

• ALA 2010 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults
• ALA 2010 Best Books for Young Adults
• SIBA Book Award Nominee
• Starred review, Publishers Weekly
• Starred review, Booklist
• Starred review, KLIATT

The Scorpio Races

• Michael L. Printz Award Honor, 2012
• The Odyssey Honor Award 2012 for Best Audio Production
• Los Angeles Times Book Times Award Finalist, 2012
• ALA Notable Books for Children, 2012
• The New York Times Notable Children's Books of 2011
• Publishers Weekly Best Children's Books of 2011
• Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best, 2012
• Amazon's Best Books for Teens 2011
• School Library Journal's Best Books of the Year
• Kirkus' Best Teen Books of the Year (2011)
• Horn Book Best Books of 2011
• Children's Book Committee 2012 Best Children's Books of the Year
• Finalist, 2012 Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Children's Literature
• YALSA Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults, 2012
• YALSA Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults, 2012
• 2012 NCTE/ CLA Notable Children's Book in the English Language Arts

The Raven Boys

• Number 1 NYT Bestselling Series
• TIME Magazine Season's Most Anticipated Reads
• Junior Library Guild Selection
• Amazon Books Editors' Selection: Fall Favorites
• Autumn 2012 Kids' Indie Next List Pick
• Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award
• Bram Stoker Award nominee

The Dream Thieves

• Detcon1 Member Choice Award for Young Adult Fiction
• School Library Journal's Best Books of 2013
• Chapters-Indigo Best Books of 2013

Blue Lily, Lily Blue

• TIME Magazine Season's Most Anticipated Reads
• Publishers Weekly Best Books of 2012
• Junior Library Guild Selection
• Amazon Books Editors' Selection: Fall Favorites
• 2013 YALSA Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults
• Autumn 2012 Kids' Indie Next List Pick
• Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award
• Audiofile's Best Audiobooks of the Year for 2012
• Indigo Top 25 of 2012
• BCCB Blue Ribbons 2012
• Leserpreis 2013, Best Fantasy
• One of Rolling Stone's Best 40 YA Novels