Jennifer Niven

All the Bright Places is Jennifer Niven’s first book for young adult readers, but she has written four novels for adults—American Blonde, Becoming Clementine, Velva Jean Learns to Fly, and Velva Jean Learns to Drive—as well as three nonfiction books—The Ice Master, Ada Blackjack, and The Aqua-Net Diaries, a memoir about her high school experiences.

From Niven's Q & A at the Guardian:

This one’s for all the aspiring writers on the Guardian children’s books website: what was the reason you became a writer in the first place?

I became a writer because writing has always been – for all my life – the thing I love to do most. I write because I can’t not write. I write books I want to read. I was lucky enough to grow up with a writer mom, who taught me that I could be or do anything I wanted to be or do. I’m an only child, and when I was a little girl, we used to have “writing time.” From her, I learned to find the story in everything, and I learned never to limit myself or my imagination. I also saw firsthand how difficult and stressful and unpredictable the business was. And I saw the commitment it took. I’m grateful for that because I think so many people go into the business of writing with unrealistic expectations – not realising that it is, in fact, a business, and that you have to be ready and willing to do it in spite of everything else.

As you are a new YA author, if you were on a desert island which three items would you take and why?

I’d like to take my fiancé and three...[read on]

Visit Jennifer Niven's website.

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--Marshal Zeringue