Scott Westerfeld

Westerfeld was born in Dallas, Texas. As a child he moved to Connecticut for his father Lloyd's job as a computer programmer for UNIVAC. He saw his father working with planes for Lockheed Martin, submarines for Electric Boat, and NASA's Apollo missions; these projects made his family move across the states frequently, and he developed a penchant for storytelling to his peers and teachers who often asked him about his hometown.{{cite interview |interviewer=Sean Williams |title=Scott Westerfeld: Leviathan|url=http://www.abc.net.au/tv/bigideas/stories/2013/04/22/3739852.htm |website=Big Ideas |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|date=April 22, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130516163157/http://www.abc.net.au/tv/bigideas/stories/2013/04/22/3739852.htm|archive-date=May 16, 2013|url-status=dead}}

Westerfeld graduated from Vassar College with an A.B. in Philosophy in 1985.{{cite web |url=http://www.sfsite.com/12b/sc238.htm |title=A Conversation With Scott Westerfeld |website=The SF Site |author=Kevin Stone |date=December 2006 |access-date=August 17, 2013}} He began composing music as a teenager{{cite web |url=http://scottwesterfeld.com/videos/ |title=Scott Westerfeld: Music |access-date=August 17, 2013}} and composes music for modern dance.{{cite web |url=http://www.iblist.com/author6959.htm |title=Author Information: Scott Westerfeld |website=Internet Book List |access-date=August 17, 2013}} In 2001, Westerfeld married Australian author Justine Larbalestier.

As of 2013, Westerfeld divided his time between Sydney, Australia and New York City.{{cite web |url=http://txla.org/groups/SPOTMiddle-ScottWesterfeld |title=Author Feature-Scott Westerfeld |website=Texas Library Association |access-date=August 17, 2013}}

Westerfeld is best known for the Uglies series and its spin-offs. Other novels of his include Afterworlds and, for adults, The Risen Empire and The Killing of Worlds, parts one and two of Succession.

Westerfeld began his career writing novels for adults, but switched to YA literature with his Midnighters trilogy. He has written four YA novels that take place in New York City: Peeps, The Last Days, So Yesterday, and Afterworlds. While The Last Days is not a sequel to Peeps, it follows a group of different characters in the same setting. So Yesterday is not related to these novels, but is often grouped with them because it is also set in New York City.

He has also written the Leviathan series, an alternate history trilogy set in World War I consisting of Leviathan, Behemoth and Goliath, plus its illustrated guide The Manual of Aeronautics.

In 2017, Westerfeld produced a graphic novel with illustrations by Alex Puvilland titled The Spill Zone. The graphic novel, released officially in October 2016 as an online syndication prior to the 2017 print release,{{cite web|last1=Doctorow|first1=Cory|title=Spill Zone: a new free online graphic novel from Scott Westerfeld, creator of Uglies|url=http://boingboing.net/2016/10/06/spill-zone-a-new-free-online.html|website=Boing Boing|access-date=March 30, 2017|date=October 6, 2016}} tells of a photographer who ventures back into her upstate New York hometown abandoned by a mysterious event to take pictures of the occurrences happening there since.{{cite web|last1=Westerfeld|first1=Scott|title=Spill Zone|url=https://scottwesterfeld.com/blog/2016/10/spill-zone/|website=scottwesterfeld.com|access-date=March 30, 2017|date=October 14, 2016}}

In a blogpost in 2006, Westerfeld claimed to have ghostwritten five Goosebumps books, one of which was All-Day Nightmare, one of the entries in the Give Yourself Goosebumps series which came out in February 2000.{{cite web|last1=Westerfeld|first1=Scott|title=A Decade of Freelance|url=http://scottwesterfeld.com/blog/2006/06/a-decade-of-freelance/comment-page-1/#comment-4777|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160714212805/http://scottwesterfeld.com/blog/2006/06/a-decade-of-freelance/comment-page-1/#comment-4777|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 14, 2016|website=scottwesterfeld.com|access-date=June 19, 2018|date=June 5, 2006}}

Several of his novels have been optioned for films. So Yesterday has been optioned to be made into a film by one of the producers of Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Columbine.{{cite web|url=http://scottwesterfeld.com/blog/?p=129 |title=So Yesterday, the Movie |publisher=Scottwesterfeld.com |date=April 13, 2006 |access-date=March 18, 2012}} However, this option 'slowly died', as Scott Westerfeld wrote on his blog. The Uglies series was optioned in 2006 by Twentieth Century Fox as a possible film series.Publishers Weekly, January 8, 2007.

A major theme in Westerfeld's work is the idea of free thinking or questioning authority. In Uglies, the protagonist Tally rebels against her society's rules first with harmless pranks and eventually by leaving the city altogether. She finds a group of runaway uglies who refuse to conform to social norms that includes undergoing cosmetic surgery. Similarly, So Yesterday examines popularity and why certain trends are considered 'cool.' The novels praises innovators who think outside the box and come up with new fashion statements entirely on their own.

Another common theme in Westerfeld's novels is coming of age. Because Westerfeld writes primarily for young adult audiences, his protagonists are usually teenagers who find themselves over the course of the novel or series. Tally in Uglies, Cal in Peeps and Hunter in So Yesterday all struggle with finding where they belong until they come to terms with who they are.

Courage is another common theme in Westerfeld's work. His protagonists often face frightening or dangerous problems and have to rely on their own courage to overcome the problem. Often adults are not present during the time of crisis and the protagonist is left to his or her own devices. For example, Cal in Peeps is trained by adults on how to track down vampires, but he goes alone to actually catch them and must accomplish this task completely on his own.

• Evolution's Darling was a New York Times Notable Book (2000), and won a Special Citation for the 2000 Philip K. Dick Award
• So Yesterday won a Victorian Premier's Award
• The Secret Hour won an Aurealis Award
• Peeps and Uglies were both named as "Best Books for Young Adults" in 2006 by the American Library Association (ALA),{{cite web |url=http://www.ala.org/yalsa/booklistsawards/booklists/bestbooksya/annotations/06bbya |title=2006 Best Books for Young Adults with annotations |website=Young Adult Library Services Association |date=July 30, 2007 |access-date=August 17, 2013}} and Peeps was in the Top Ten.{{cite web |title=BBYA 2006 Top Ten with annotations |url=https://www.ala.org/yalsa/booklistsawards/booklists/bestbooksya/annotations/06toptenbbya |access-date=20 February 2023 |website=American Library Association |publisher=Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). |quote=}} Uglies was also selected for the ALA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults 2006 list.{{Cite web |date=2017-03-22 |title=Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults 2006 |url=https://www.ala.org/yalsa/booklistsawards/booklists/popularpaperback/annotations/ppya06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170322151842/https://www.ala.org/yalsa/booklistsawards/booklists/popularpaperback/annotations/ppya06 |archive-date=2017-03-22 |access-date= |website=ala.org}}
• Leviathan won the 2010 Locus Award for Best Young Adult Fiction and was nominated for an ORCA (Oregon Reader's Choice Award) in the intermediate division. The Russian translation of Leviathan was awarded by Mir Fantastiki as Best Young Adult Fiction in 2011.

• Polymorph (1997)
• Fine Prey (1998)
• Evolution's Darling (2000)

• The Risen Empire (2003)
• The Killing of Worlds (2003)

The two books were re-published in 2005 in one volume, also titled The Risen Empire.

• So Yesterday (2004)
• Afterworlds (2014)
• Horizon (2017)

• The Secret Hour (2004)
• Touching Darkness (2005)
• Blue Noon (2006)

• Peeps (2005) (also known as Parasite Positive in Britain and V-Virus or Peeps in Canada)
• The Last Days (2006)

• Uglies (2005)
• Pretties (2005)
• Specials (2006)
• Extras (2007)

• Impostors (2018)
• Shatter City (2019)
• Mirror's Edge (2021)
• Youngbloods (2022)

• Bogus to Bubbly: An Insider's Guide to the World of Uglies (2008)
• Graphic novel retellings from Shay's point of view:
• Uglies: Shay's Story (with Devin Grayson and Steven Cummings) (2012)
• Uglies: Cutters (with Devin Grayson and Steven Cummings) (2012)

• Leviathan (2009)
• Behemoth (2010)
• Goliath (2011)

• The Manual of Aeronautics (illustrated guide) (2012)

• Spill Zone (2016)
• Spill Zone: The Broken Vow (2019)

• Spill Night (short story for Free Comic Book Day) (2017)

• Zeroes (2015)
• Swarm (2016)
• Nexus (2018)

{{reflist|25em}}

{{Commons category|Scott Westerfeld}}

• {{official website}}
• [https://www.sffworld.com/2006/09/scifiint_203/ Interview] at SFFWorld.com
• {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140911201956/http://westerboard.informe.com/forum/ |title= Westerboard}} fan site
• {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090130040956/http://westerfeldforums.lumak.net/ |title=Westerfeld Forums}} fan site
• [https://www.locusmag.com/2006/Issues/05Westerfeld.html Interview excerpts] from Locus May 2006
• [https://fantasyliterature.com/fantasy-author/westerfeldscott/ Novel synopses, cover art, and reviews at Fantasy Literature]
• {{isfdb name|3848}}
• {{LCAuth|n88191099|Scott Westerfeld|33|}}
• [https://www.wattpad.com/user/scottwesterfeld Scott Westerfeld's Official Wattpad Profile]

{{Scott Westerfeld}}{{Locus Award Best Young Adult Book}}{{Authority control}}

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Category:1963 births

Category:20th-century American novelists

Category:21st-century American novelists

Category:American children's writers

Category:American expatriates in Australia

Category:American science fiction writers

Category:American writers of young adult literature

Category:Living people

Category:Writers from Dallas

Category:Steampunk writers

Category:Vassar College alumni

Category:Novelists from Texas

Category:American male novelists

Category:Writers of young adult science fiction

Category:20th-century American male writers

Category:21st-century American male writers