Anna-Marie McLemore

Anna-Marie McLemore is a Mexican-American author of young adult fiction magical realism, best known for their Stonewall Honor-winning novel When the Moon Was Ours, Wild Beauty, and The Weight of Feathers.^[1]

Personal life[]

McLemore is a queer Latinx,^[2] which they cite as one of the reasons why they write inclusive, queer, Latinx casts.^[3][4] Their husband is transgender.^[5] McLemore themself is nonbinary and bigender, using singular they pronouns.^[6]

McLemore describes their work as inspired by the fairytales and stories they grew up with and their own background,^[7] which is why many of their novels feature magical-realist themes, queer characters, and Spanish and French language.^[8][9] They cite Laura Esquivel's novel Like Water for Chocolate as one of the reasons they started writing^[10] and names Carla Trujillo, Malinda Lo, Isabel Allende, and Federico García Lorca as some of their influences.^[11][12]

Career[]

McLemore was named a Lambda Literary Emerging Writer Fellow in 2011.^[13]

Their debut young adult novel, The Weight of Feathers, was published in 2015 by Thomas Dunne Books. It deals with themes of discrimination and marginalization^[14] in a magical-realist story about black magic,^[15] and includes a generational feud between Mexican-American and Romani rival families.^[16] Their debut was chosen as a William C. Morris Debut Award Finalist in 2016^[17] and received a starred review from Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books.^[18] It also was chosen for YALSA's 2016 Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults list.^[19]

Their second novel, When the Moon Was Ours, a magical-realist fairytale about a transgender Pakistani-American boy and a cisgender queer Latina falling in love,^[20] was published in 2016 by Thomas Dunne Books. It won the James Tiptree Jr. Award^[21] in 2016 and the Stonewall Honor Award^[22] in 2017. It was also named a Best Book of the Year by Kirkus Reviews^[23] and Booklist.^[24] When the Moon Was Ours received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews,^[25] School Library Journal,^[26] and Booklist.^[24]

McLemore's third novel, Wild Beauty, about a family of cursed women and magical gardens, was published in 2017 by Feiwel and Friends^[27]. It again received three starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews,^[28] School Library Journal,^[29] and Booklist,^[30] and was also named a Best Book of the Year by Kirkus Reviews^[31] and Booklist.^[30] Wild Beauty was nominated for a Northern California Book Award in 2018.^[32]

Their fourth novel, Blanca & Roja, is a Latinx retelling of Swan Lake^[33] and Snow White, about two sisters who fall in love with a boy who can turn into a bear and a non-binary teen who can turn into a cygnet.^[34] It was published by Feiwel and Friends in 2018. Blanca & Roja received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews,^[35] School Library Journal,^[36] and Booklist^[37] as well. School Library Journal named Blanca & Roja a best book of 2018.^[38]

Their fifth novel, Dark and Deepest Red, is a split-timeline story based on The Red Shoes, set in 1518 Strasbourg and 2018. The book was published in early 2020.^[39]

Their sixth novel, Miss Meteor, is about two girls attempting to change their town's future while they participate in a talent competition. It's their first co-written novel, together with author Tehlor Kay Mejia, and was published by HarperCollins in 2020.^[40]

McLemore's seventh novel, The Mirror Season, was published in March 2021 by Feiwel & Friends^[41] while their eighth novel, Lakelore, will be published in 2022.^[42]

Their novels have been translated into Turkish, Italian, and Spanish.^{[citation needed]}

They have also written several short stories and non-fiction essays for anthologies that were published with Ambush Books, Harlequin Teen, Candlewick, Simon Pulse, Soho Teen, and Algonquin Young Readers.^{[citation needed]}

Bibliography[]

Young adult stand-alones

• The Weight of Feathers (Thomas Dunne Books, 2015)
• When the Moon Was Ours (Thomas Dunne Books, 2016)
• Wild Beauty (Feiwel and Friends, 2017)
• Blanca & Roja (Feiwel and Friends, 2018)
• Miss Meteor (co-written with Tehlor Kay Mejia) (HarperCollins, 2020)
• Dark and Deepest Red (Feiwel & Friends, 2020)
• The Mirror Season (Feiwel & Friends, 2021)
• Lakelore (Feiwel & Friends, 2022)

Short stories and essays

• Magical Mayhem, edited by Douglas Rees (Ambush Books, 2012)
• "Roja" in All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens throughout the Ages, edited by Saundra Mitchell (Harlequin Teen, 2018)
• "Love Spell" in Toil & Trouble: 15 Tales of Women & Witchcraft, edited by Tess Sharpe (Harlequin Teen, 2018)
• "Glamour" in The Radical Element, edited by Jessica Spotswood (Candlewick, 2018)
• "Her Hair Was Not of Gold" in Our Stories, Our Voices: 21 YA Authors Get Real About Injustice, Empowerment, and Growing Up Female in America, edited by Amy Reed (Simon Pulse, 2018)
• "Panadería ~ Pastelería" in Hungry Hearts: 13 Tales of Food Love, edited by Elsie Chapman and Caroline Tung Richmond (Simon Pulse, 2019)
• "Umbra" on Issue 7 of Foreshadow: A Serial YA Anthology (2019)
• "Turn the Sky to Petals" in Color Outside the Lines, edited by Sangu Mandanna (Soho Teen, 2019)
• Title TBA in Body Talk, edited by Kelly Jensen (Algonquin Young Readers, 2020)
• "Cristal y Ceniza" in A Universe of Wishes, edited by Dhonielle Clayton (Random House Children's Books, 2020)^[43]

Awards and nominations[]

References[]