Quick Facts
| Intro | American writer |
| Is | Writer |
| From | United States of America |
| Field | Literature |
| Gender | female |
| Birth | Springfield, United States of America |
Biography
Brandy Colbert is an American author of young adult fiction and non-fiction, best known for her Stonewall Children's Award-winning novel Little & Lion.
Personal life
Colbert was born and raised in the Ozarks, in Springfield, Missouri, where she attended Glendale High School. The works of Dorothy West, Barthe DeClements, Jesmyn Ward, Colson Whitehead, and Zadie Smith were impactful to her writing career. She began working on what would be her debut novel, Pointe, in 2009, inspired by reports of long-term kidnapping cases.
Works
Her debut young adult Pointe, following a teen dancer in suburban Chicago who has to come to terms with her dark past, was published in 2014 by Putnam. A Chicago Tribune reviewer described the novel as "searing", and considered the main character "achingly believable", writing that she "inspires that level of connection" where "you long to reach into the pages ... and tell her, "No, you've got it all wrong". The book received a starred review from Publishers Weekly.
Her next young adult novel, Little & Lion, about a sixteen-year-old bisexual teen dealing with her brother's recent bipolar disorder diagnosis and her own sexuality, was published by Little, Brown in 2017. It received a starred review from Booklist, and School Library Journal. It was named a Best Teen Romance of 2017 by Kirkus Reviews. Little & Lion also won the 2018 Stonewall Children’s and Young Adult Literature Award.
Her third novel, Finding Yvonne, about a privileged teenager deciding what to do with her future when she inexpectedly becomes pregnant, was published by Little, Brown in 2018.
In 2019, her fourth novel, The Revolution of Birdie Randolph, was published by Little, Brown.
Colbert also contributed short stories to anthologies published by St. Martin's Griffin in 2016, Algonquin Books in 2017, Simon Pulse in 2017 and 2018, HarperCollins in 2017, Harlequin Teen in 2018, and Balzer + Bray in 2019.
Awards
- Stonewall Children’s and Young Adult Literature Award for Little & Lion (Little, Brown, 2017)
