Nina LaCour

LaCour was born in 1983 and raised in the San Francisco Bay area.{{Cite web |title=About Nina |url=https://www.ninalacour.com/aboutnina |access-date=January 2, 2022 |website=Nina LaCour |language=en-US}} Her family instilled in her an appreciation for the arts and education: "her grandmother taught china painting classes; her father was a teacher and then school principal; and her mother taught high school photography"Hold Still" Nina LaCour."

She attended Campolindo High School and graduated in 2000.{{Cite web |last=McMahon |first=Regan |date=2018-03-08 |title=Voice of youth: Author Nina LaCour honored for her YA fiction |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/books/article/Voice-of-youth-Author-Nina-LaCour-honored-for-12738338.php |access-date=2023-01-03 |website=San Francisco Chronicle |language=en-US}} She received her bachelor's degree from San Francisco State University and a master of fine arts in creative writing from Mills College.{{Cite web |last=Comerford |first=Lynda Brill |date=December 21, 2009 |title=Fall 2009 Flying Starts: Nina LaCour |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/authors/profiles/article/53225-fall-2009-flying-starts-nina-lacour.html |access-date=January 2, 2022 |website=Publishers Weekly |language=en}}

LaCour's first novel, Hold Still, was the result of her master's thesis while at Mills College. Also while there, LaCour began teaching English composition to undergraduate students. Following graduation, she taught at Berkeley City College and Maybeck High School before taking a few years off to care for her daughter.

At present, LaCour teaches in the Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing for Children and Young Adults program at Hamline University.{{Cite web |title=Creative Writing Programs - Faculty and Staff - |url=https://www.hamline.edu/cla/creative-writing-programs/faculty/ |access-date=January 2, 2022 |website=Hamline University}}

LaCour currently lives in San Francisco with her wife and daughter.

{{main|Hold Still}}

Hold Still is a young adult novel published October 20, 2009 by Dutton Children's Books.

The book received the following accolades:

• American Library Association's Best Books for Young Adults selection (2010){{Cite web |date=January 21, 2010 |title=Hold Still {{!}} Awards & Grants |url=https://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/content/hold-still-0 |access-date=January 2, 2022 |website=American Library Association}}
• William C. Morris Award finalist (2010){{Cite web |last= |date=January 13, 2010 |title=YALSA's 2010 Literary Award Winners |url=https://www.ala.org/yalsa/booklistsawards/bookawards/2010winners |access-date=January 2, 2022 |website=Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=January 18, 2010 |title=hold still {{!}} Awards & Grants |url=https://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/content/hold-still |access-date=January 2, 2022 |website=American Library Association}}

{{main|Everything Leads to You}}

Everything Leads to You is a young adult novel published May 15, 2014 Dutton Children's Books.

The book is a Junior Library Guild selection{{Cite web |title=Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour |url=https://www.juniorlibraryguild.com/book/landing/detailedview?itemcode=9780525425885J&name=Everything_Leads_to_You |access-date=January 2, 2022 |website=Junior Library Guild}} and has received the following accolades:

• Goodreads Choice Award for Young Adult Fiction nominee (2014){{Cite book |title=Everything Leads to You |url=https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18667779-everything-leads-to-you?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=MiIktU6pSZ&rank=1 |access-date=January 2, 2022 |website=Goodreads| isbn=978-0-525-42588-5 }}
• YALSA's Best Fiction for Young Adults (2015){{Cite web |title=Everything Leads To You |url=http://booklists.yalsa.net/book/10573/everything-leads-to-you |access-date=January 2, 2022 |website=YALSA Book Finder}}
• ALA Rainbow List (2015){{Cite web |date=December 20, 2017 |title=Everything Leads To You {{!}} Awards & Grants |url=https://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/node/36172 |access-date=January 2, 2022 |website=American Library Association}}

{{main|We Are Okay}}

We Are Okay is a young adult novel published February 14, 2017, by Dutton Children's Books.

TIME added the book to its "100 Best Young Adult Books of All Time" list,{{Cite magazine |title=The 100 Best YA Books of All Time |url=https://time.com/collection/100-best-ya-books/ |access-date=January 2, 2022 |magazine=Time |language=en}} and Bustle named it one of the best books of the decade.{{Cite web |last=Colyard |first=K.W. |date=December 18, 2019 |title=The Best Books Of The 2010s, According To 30 Of The Decade's Debut Authors |url=https://www.bustle.com/p/the-best-books-of-the-2010s-according-to-30-of-the-decades-debut-authors-19433961 |access-date=January 2, 2022 |website=Bustle |language=en}} The Boston Globe,{{Cite web |last= |last2= |last3= |first3= |date=December 8, 2017 |title=Best children's and YA books of 2017 |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/books/2017/12/06/the-best-children-middle-grade-and-books/9R2ZOzYMXV0uMtytpyu2oO/story.html |access-date=January 2, 2022 |website=The Boston Globe |language=en-US}}Publishers Weekly,{{Cite web |title=Best Books 2017 Publishers Weekly |url=https://best-books.publishersweekly.com/pw/best-books/2017/young-adult |access-date=January 2, 2022 |website=Publishers Weekly}} and Seventeen{{Cite web |last=Orenstein |first=Hannah |date=January 16, 2018 |title=28 of the Best YA Books of 2017 |url=https://www.seventeen.com/life/g3130/best-ya-books-of-2017/ |access-date=January 2, 2022 |website=Seventeen |language=en-US}} named it one of the best books of the year.

We Are Okay received various accolades, including the following:

• Booklist Editors' Choice: Books for Youth (2017){{Cite book |date=January 1, 2018 |title=Booklist Editors' Choice: Books for Youth, 2017 |url=https://www.booklistonline.com/Booklist-Editors-Choice/pid=9320435 |access-date=January 1, 2022 |via=Booklist}}
• Michael L. Printz Award (2018){{Cite web |date=February 16, 2018 |title=We are okay {{!}} Awards & Grants |url=https://www.ala.org/awardsgrants/we-are-okay |access-date=January 2, 2022 |website=American Library Association}}
• American Library Association's Rainbow List Top Ten (2018){{Cite web |title=2018 Rainbow List |url=https://glbtrt.ala.org/rainbowbooks/archives/1270 |access-date=January 2, 2022 |website=Rainbow Book List |language=en-US}}

{{main|Watch Over Me (novel)}}

Watch Over Me is a young adult novel published September 15, 2020, by Dutton Children's Books.

The New York Public Library,{{Cite web |title=Best Books for Teens 2020 |url=https://www.nypl.org/books-more/recommendations/best-books/teens |access-date=January 2, 2022 |website=The New York Public Library |language=en}} Chicago Public Library,{{Cite web |title=Best Teen Fiction of 2020 |url=https://chipublib.bibliocommons.com/list/share/200121216/1769519469 |access-date=January 2, 2022 |website=Chicago Public Library |language=en-US}} Buzzfeed,{{Cite web |last=Penn |first=Farrah |title=The Best YA Books Of 2020 |url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/farrahpenn/the-best-ya-books-of-2020 |access-date=January 2, 2022 |website=BuzzFeed |date=December 10, 2020 |language=en}} and Kirkus{{Cite web |title=Best of 2020 |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/best-of/2020/young-adult/books/ |access-date=January 2, 2022 |website=Kirkus Reviews |language=en}} named it one of the best young adult books of the year.

The book received various accolades, including the following:

• YALSA's Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults selection (2021){{Cite web |last= |date=January 4, 2021 |title=2021 Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults |url=https://www.ala.org/yalsa/2021-amazing-audiobooks-young-adults |access-date=January 2, 2022 |website=Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) |language=en}}
• YALSA's Best Fiction for Young Adults (2021){{Cite web |last= |date=January 14, 2021 |title=2021 Best Fiction for Young Adults |url=https://www.ala.org/yalsa/2021-best-fiction-young-adults |access-date=January 2, 2022 |website=Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) |language=en}}

Yerba Buena is LaCour's first book of adult fiction. The novel has "themes of drug and sexual abuse, death, abandonment, and purposelessness"{{Cite web |last=Hynek |first=Julia |date=June 11, 2022 |title='Yerba Buena' Review: Understated, Bittersweet, Brilliant |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2022/6/11/yerba-buena-nina-lacour-review/ |access-date=2022-12-24 |website=The Harvard Crimson}} but is ultimately the story of "two star-crossed young women navigating trauma, family, and romance". The New York Times reviewed the book and called it a "sensory feast".{{Cite news |last=Harlan |first=Jennifer |date=2022-05-31 |title=Love and Trauma in the Wilds of California |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/31/books/review/yerba-buena-nina-lacour.html |access-date=2022-12-24 |issn=0362-4331}}

LaCour's 2023 book The Apartment House on Poppy Hill, illustrated by Sonia Albert, was shortlisted for the 2024 Lambda Literary Award for Children's Literature.{{cite web |url=https://www.them.us/story/lambda-literary-awards-2024-shortlist-announcement |title=Announcing the Finalists for the 36th Annual Lambda Literary Awards |work=them. |date=2024-03-27 |access-date=2024-04-05 }}

• Hold Still (2009)
• The Disenchantments (2012)
• Everything Leads to You (2014)
• You Know Me Well, with David Levithan (2016)
• We Are Okay (2017)
• Watch Over Me (2020)
• Yerba Buena (2022)

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.ninalacour.com/ Official website]

{{Michael L. Printz Award Winners}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:LaCour, Nina}}

Category:Living people

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:Writers from San Francisco

Category:American LGBTQ writers

Category:San Francisco State University alumni

Category:Mills College alumni

Category:Hamline University faculty

Category:LGBTQ people from the San Francisco Bay Area

Category:Lambda Literary Award winners

Category:Michael L. Printz Award winners