Raven Leilani facts for kids

Raven Leilani Baptiste (born August 26, 1990) is an American writer. She writes under the name Raven Leilani. Her first novel, Luster, came out in 2020. It was very popular and received many good reviews.

About Raven Leilani

Raven Leilani grew up in a family of artists. They lived in the Bronx before moving to a town near Albany, New York. When she was young, she went to an art high school. She thought she would become a visual artist, like a painter or sculptor.

She went to Marist College in Poughkeepsie. She graduated in 2012. There, she studied English and psychology. After college, Raven Leilani had many different jobs. She worked at Ancestry.com, helping to organize old records. She also worked for a science magazine and even for the United States Department of Defense. She was also a delivery person for Postmates.

In 2017, she decided to study writing more. She went to New York University to get her Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree. This is an advanced degree for artists and writers. She learned from famous writers like Zadie Smith. Today, Raven Leilani lives in Brooklyn.

Her Writing Career

Raven Leilani's first novel, Luster, became very famous when it was published. Her publisher, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, chose it as their special novel for August 2020. Many well-known magazines and websites praised the book. These included Elle, HuffPost, BuzzFeed News, and The New York Times.

Other famous authors also loved Luster. These included Carmen Maria Machado and Zadie Smith. Luster won several important awards. It received the 2020 Kirkus Prize for Fiction. It also won the 2020 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. In 2021, it won the Dylan Thomas Prize.

Raven Leilani's background in art helps her writing. Her own life experiences, poetry, and even comic books and music also inspire her. She has written articles for popular magazines like Esquire, The Cut, and Vogue.

Her Published Works

Short Stories

• "Hard Water" (2016), published in Cosmonauts Avenue
• "Breathing Exercise" (2019), published in Yale Review
• "Airplane Mode" (2019), published in SmokeLong Quarterly

See also

In Spanish: Raven Leilani para niños