Libba Bray

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title: "Libba Bray" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1964-births", "living-people", "21st-century-american-novelists", "american-fantasy-writers", "american-young-adult-novelists", "michael-l.-printz-award-winners", "novelists-from-alabama", "place-of-birth-missing-(living-people)", "american-women-science-fiction-and-fantasy-writers", "21st-century-american-women-novelists", "american-women-writers-of-young-adult-literature", "people-from-denton,-texas", "writers-from-montgomery,-alabama", "novelists-from-texas"] description: "American writer (born 1964)" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libba_Bray" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American writer (born 1964) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	Libba Bray
image	Libba Bray by David Shankbone.jpg
caption	Libba Bray
birth_name	Martha Elizabeth Bray
birth_date
birth_place	Montgomery, Alabama, U.S.
death_date
alma_mater	University of Texas at Austin
known_for	The Gemma Doyle Trilogy
occupation	Author
spouse	Barry Goldblatt (former)
children	1
::

| name = Libba Bray | image = Libba Bray by David Shankbone.jpg | alt = | caption = Libba Bray | birth_name = Martha Elizabeth Bray | birth_date = | birth_place = Montgomery, Alabama, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | nationality = | alma_mater = University of Texas at Austin | other_names = | known_for = The Gemma Doyle Trilogy | occupation = Author | spouse = Barry Goldblatt (former) | children = 1 Martha Elizabeth "Libba" Bray (March 11, 1964) is an American writer of young adult novels including the Gemma Doyle Trilogy, Going Bovine, Beauty Queens, The Diviners series, and Under the Same Stars.

Early life

Martha Elizabeth Bray was born in Montgomery, Alabama. Her father was a gay Presbyterian minister, and her mother was an English teacher.

She and her family moved to West Virginia for a brief period, then to Corpus Christi, Texas and finally to Denton, Texas, where Bray attended high school. At the age of eighteen, three weeks after graduating high school, Bray was involved in a serious car accident. She had to undergo thirteen surgeries over six years to reconstruct her face, and has an artificial left eye because of the accident.

Bray graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1988 as a Theatre major. As a budding playwright, she felt it important to be in New York City. When her childhood best friend, already living in Manhattan, called saying she was looking for a roommate, Bray moved to New York.

Bray was married to Barry Goldblatt, a children's book agent, with whom she shares a son, Josh.

Career

Bray's first job was in the publicity department of Penguin Putnam, followed by three years at Spier, an advertising agency specializing in book advertising.

Bray was encouraged to write a young adult novel by her husband, Barry Goldblatt, a children's book agent and Ginee Seo, an editor at Simon & Schuster. Before this, using a pseudonym, she had written three books for 17th Street Press (a publisher of romances).

Her first novel, A Great and Terrible Beauty became a New York Times bestseller. In November 2006, a video promoting the book was a part of The Book Standard's Teen Book Video Awards. She wrote two more books to finish the trilogy she had started with A Great and Terrible Beauty: Rebel Angels and The Sweet Far Thing.

Bray is friends with many young adult authors such as John Green and Maureen Johnson, and with fellow YA fantasy authors Holly Black and Cassandra Clare. Her blog can be read on https://web.archive.org/web/20101023044746/http://libba-bray.livejournal.com/.

Going Bovine was published by Delacorte in 2009 and won the annual Michael L. Printz Award from the American Library Association recognizing literary excellence in young adult literature. It is a dark comedy about a 16-year-old boy named Cameron who has mad cow disease and a 16-year-old dwarf named Gonzo whom he met in the hospital. Gonzo is a video gamer who thinks that everything is trying to kill him. Cameron has visitation from a punkish angel named Dulcie who has a propensity for spray-painting her wings. They are all on a mission to cure Cameron's mad cow disease.

Beauty Queens, about a group of beauty pageant contestants whose plane crashes on an island, was published by Scholastic Press on May 24, 2011.

Bray's novel, The Diviners, was published on September 18, 2012. It centers around Evie O'Neill, a seventeen-year-old with a special power who has been sent to live with her uncle in New York City in 1926. The sequel, Lair of Dreams, was released in August 2015 and the third book, Before The Devil Breaks You, was released in October 2017. The fourth and final book in the series, The King of Crows, was released in February 2020.

Awards and honors

Awards

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Award	Result	Ref.	2010	2012	2013	2016
Going Bovine	Michael L. Printz Award	Winner
Audie Award for Young Adult Title	Finalist
Beauty Queens	Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults	Top 10
Audie Award for Narration by the Author	Winner
Audie Award for Young Adult Title	Finalist
**	Audie Award for Young Adult Title	Finalist
Lair of Dreams	Audie Award for Narration by the Author	Finalist	title=2016 Audie Awards® - APA (en-US)	url=https://www.audiopub.org/winners/2016-winners-circle	access-date=2022-09-13	website=www.audiopub.org	archive-date=2016-06-23	archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160623223709/https://www.audiopub.org/winners/2016-winners-circle
Audie Award for Young Adult Title	Winner
Before the Devil Breaks You	Audie Award for Young Adult Title	Finalist
::

Honors

A Great and Terrible Beauty, The Sweet Far Thing, received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly. Going Bovine received starred reviews from Booklist and Publishers Weekly. Before the Devil Breaks You and the audiobook renditions of Beauty Queens and The King of Crows received starred reviews from Booklist. The Diviners received starred reviews from Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, and Publishers Weekly. Lair of Dreams received starred reviews from Kirkus Reviews and Publishers Weekly.

A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, The Sweet Far Thing were national best sellers for children's fiction. ::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Honor	Ref.	2006	2011	2012	2012	2012	2013	2013	2016
Rebel Angels	ALA Best Books for Young Adults
Beauty Queens	Booklist Editors' Choice: Media
Beauty Queens	ALA Amelia Bloomer List
Beauty Queens	ALA Rainbow Book List
Going Bovine	Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults
The Diviners	Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults
The Diviners	Best Fiction for Young Adults
Lair of Dreams	ALA Rainbow Book List
::

Publications

Gemma Doyle trilogy

| A Great and Terrible Beauty, Delacorte (2003) | Rebel Angels, Delacorte (2005) | The Sweet Far Thing, Delacorte (2007)}}

The Diviners series

| The Diviners, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (2012) | Lair of Dreams, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (2015) | Before the Devil Breaks You, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (2017) | The King of Crows, Little, Brown Books for Young Readers (2020)

Standalone novels

• Going Bovine, Delacorte (2009)
• Beauty Queens, Scholastic Press (2011)
• Under the Same Stars, Farrar, Straus and Giroux (2025)

Anthologized short stories

• 21 Proms, Scholastic Paperbacks (2007)
• The Restless Dead, Candlewick Press (2007)
• Up All Night, HarperTeen (2008)
• Vacations from Hell, HarperTeen (2009)
• "The Thirteenth Step", a short story in The Eternal Kiss: 13 Vampire Tales of Blood and Desire, ed. Trisha Telep, Running Press (2009)
• "The Last Ride of the Glory Girls," Steampunk! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories (2015)

References

1. "Libba Bray - Official Website of author Libba Bray - About Libba".
2. "About Libba".
3. "Bray, Libba (Martha E. Bray)".
4. "Libba Bray's Accident at 18".
5. Corbett, Sue. (2007-11-29). "PW Talks with Libba Bray".
6. link. (2007-03-11)
7. (2010-01-13). "2010 Michael L. Printz Award".
8. Morales, Macey. (2010-01-18). "“Going Bovine” Wins 2010 Printz Award".
9. "2010 Audie Awards®".
10. (2012-01-24). "2012 Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults Top Ten".
11. (2012-03-01). "Best Fiction for Young Adults: 2012".
12. Boretz, Adam. (May 29, 2014). "Billy Crystal Takes Top Honors at 2014 Audie Awards".
13. "2012 Audie Awards® - APA (en-US)".
14. Seattle_Quick_Picks. "Audie Award Winners: Best Audio Books 2012".
15. "2013 Audie Awards® - APA (en-US)".
16. "2016 Audie Awards® - APA (en-US)".
17. "2018 Audie Awards® - APA (en-US)".
18. "Audies Award Finalists and Winners 2018". AudioFile Publications, Inc..
19. (2003-12-08). "A GREAT AND TERRIBLE BEAUTY by Libba Bray".
20. (2007-10-29). "The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray".
21. (August 2009). "Going Bovine".
22. (2009-08-03). "Going Bovine by Libba Bray".
23. Smith, Julia. (2017-11-01). "Before the Devil Breaks You".
24. "2011-09-15".
25. Booth, Heather. (2020-05-15). "The King of Crows".
26. (July 2012). "The Diviners".
27. (July 18, 2012). "The Diviners".
28. (2013-01-28). "The Diviners by Libba Bray".
29. (June 16, 2015). "Lair of Dreams".
30. (2015-08-17). "Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray".
31. Maryles, Daisy. (2005-08-15). "Children's Fiction Bestsellers".
32. Roback, Diane. (2007-02-12). "Children's Fiction Bestsellers".
33. Roback, Diane. (2008-01-14). "Children's Fiction Bestsellers".
34. (2010-03-28). "Rebel Angels {{!}} Awards & Grants".
35. (2012-04-30). "Beauty Queens {{!}} Awards & Grants".
36. "2012-03-01".
37. (2012-03-01). "Rainbow List: 2012".
38. (2012-05-02). "Going Bovine {{!}} Awards & Grants".
39. (2013-02-01). "The Diviners {{!}} Awards & Grants".
40. (2013-02-04). "The Diviners {{!}} Awards & Grants".
41. (2017-12-07). "Lair of Dreams {{!}} Awards & Grants".

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