Lamar Giles

Lamar Giles is a young adult thriller, fantasy author, speaker and founder of We Need Diverse Books, an organization set up to change the face of publishing. He loved stories and storytelling right from the time he was growing up in Hopewell, Virginia his hometown. After he graduated from high school, he went to Old Dominion University and it was while he was there that he got interested in a career as an author. He wrote and sold his first short story when he was twenty-one years old. From there, his short fiction went on to be featured in the anthology “Dark Dreams.” He was also a Top 10 finalist in the TorUK/ScifiNow International War of the Worlds Competition and was a fellow of the Virginia Commission of the Arts. “Fake ID” his debut young adult novel was published in 2011 and went on to achieve critical acclaim. Lamar has also won several awards including the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award in 2015 and a 2016 Readers Choice List from the Virginia State Reading Association. Giles has taught and spoken at several prestigious conferences, high schools, middle schools and organizations such as BookExpo America, Virginia Children’s Book Festival and Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. His work has also been featured on Mother Nature Network, NPR, Flavorwire, CNN, Kirkus Reviews and Publishers Weekly among others. He currently lives with his wife in Chesapeake, Virginia and when he is not writing he is playing video games and reading.