Stephanie Perkins

Stephanie Perkins writes novels for teens and young adults.
Biography
Perkins was born in South Carolina, raised in Arizona and went to college in both San Francisco and Atlanta. She now lives in North Carolina with her husband, Jarrod, a few dogs and her cat, Mr. Tumnus.
The story of how she met her husband sounds like one of her well-crafted romantic tales. Her and Jarrod met online while lived across the country from each other. They didn't meet in-person for nearly five months. When he flew to meet her, the first thing he did, before even saying hello, was move into a kiss. He had told nearly everyone on the plane about Stephanie so they even had an audience for the encounter.
Stephanie's favorite band is Radiohead, but she also listens to seventies punk, piano solos, and a variety of things in between.
Her first book was Anna and the French Kiss. Through a group known as , this book has established quite a following and is very well known and loved by the group.
Printz award winning author, John Green, spoke of the unique appeal of Anna and the French Kiss, written through the NaNoWriMo competition.
A former bookseller and librarian, Perkins always worked with books and fully believes that there can always be more kissing in her favorite stories.
Perkins is a self-identified Anglophile and forsees someday writing a novel set in England.
She is also well known for her fondness of bright colors. Every room in her and Jarrod's house is painted a different color of the rainbow. She is also easily identified in crowds due to her signature blue streaked hair.
Three authors that she credits for being the most influential in her career path are Meg Cabot, John Green, and Maureen Johnson. From Cabot, she gained the sense that funny books with cute boys could still contain powerful messages of feminism. Green exemplified that a humorous novel could carry incredible emotional depth, while Maureen is a blend of everything.
Books
Anna and the French Kiss
(release date: December 2, 2010)
::Synopsis
:Anna was looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. So she's less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris—until she meets Étienne St. Clair. Smart, charming, beautiful, Étienne has it all . . . including a serious girlfriend.
:But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss?
The idea for Anna and the French Kiss came to Stephanie in a dream. She dreamt of a french boy, with an english accent, who wen to an American boarding school. When she started writing out the story, she knew nothing of France and quickly dove into research: Books, Film, Music, Food, and even Language classes.
There is a 15-track music play list available to enhance the readers journey through the book, containing artists from Coldplay to Les Shades to Sigur Rós .
Stephanie stated that Anna’s theme is “Besoin De Rien” by The Hellboys, because the song exciting and confusing.
Lola and the Boy Next Door
(A companion novel to Anna and the French Kiss due September 29, 2011)
::Synopsis
:Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn't believe in fashion . . . she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit—more sparkly, more fun, more wild—the better. But even though Lola's style is outrageous, she's a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood.
:When Cricket—a gifted inventor—steps out from his twin sister's shadow and back into Lola's life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.
Lola is a companion novel to Anna, but is meant to stand on it's own, not as a sequel. Lola's story is still somewhat secret, Stephanie states that we will see some familiar faces when we read it.
Stephanie identified Lola's theme song as Animal Arithmetic by Jonsi
Isla and the Happily Ever After
Though the plot for the last companion novel to Anna and the French Kiss and Lola and the Boy Next Door is currently being kept under wraps, it is due out in stores in Fall of 2012. All we know so far is that the characters will return to Paris to wrap things up.
Reviews
There are substantial reviews regarding the merit of this book, many by other acclaimed authors.
Some examples:
* "Smart dialogue, fresh characters and plenty of tingly interactions . . . Sarah Dessen fans will welcome another author who gracefully combines love and realism . . . Très charmante."
—KIRKUS REVIEWS, starred review
* "No one captures the exhilarating and exhausting 'but-does-he-like-me?!' question better than Stephanie Perkins. A scrumptious read."
—JUSTINA CHEN, author of North of Beautiful
* "Very sly. Very funny. Very romantic. You should date this book."
—MAUREEN JOHNSON, NYT bestselling author of 13 Little Blue Envelopes and Scarlett Fever
Other
She will be participating in young adult literature panels at the following:
*LitDay at LeakyCon 2011: An event that sold out within a week of ticket sales being opened
*Comic Con 2011

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