Maggie Stiefvater

Maggie Stiefvater (STEE-vah-tǝr; born November 18, 1981) is an American writer of Young Adult fiction. She currently lives in Virginia. 2Life and career 3Early life Stiefvater was born in Harrisonburg, Virginia. She described herself as an "anxious child with many phobias." As a child, she wanted to be a fighter pilot and race-car driver and was a voracious reader who enjoyed writing. By age 16, she was submitting manuscripts to publishers. After being home-schooled from sixth grade on, Stiefvater attended Mary Washington College, graduating with a B.A. in history. By the time she had entered college, she had already written over 30 novels, including four thrillers about the Irish Republican Army, a historical blockade runner novel, and a high-fantasy novel about "impassioned enchanters fighting among civil unrest." At 16, she legally changed her first name from "Heidi" to "Margaret". After graduating, she worked as a portrait artist, specializing in equestrian art, which is collected internationally. 3Writing career Stiefvater published her first novel, Lament, in 2008. Before Lament had been released, she sold the rights to Ballad, the sequel to Lament, and to Shiver, the first book in the trilogy The Wolves of Mercy Fall