Lamar Giles

Lamar Giles is an American author of young adult novels, Ties, and short stories. He is also one of the founding members of the American non-profit We Need Diverse Books. Giles grew up next to an army base in Hopewell, Virginia. He wrote his first novel at 14 and graduated from Hopewell High School in 1997. Giles has a B.S. in communications with a Minor in English from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. He started wanting to become a published writer after reading Stephen King's On Writing in college, and sold his first short story at age 21. He also independently published novels and short stories as L.R. Giles. Giles worked as a real estate agent for a while before being awarded a fellowship from the Virginia Commission of the Arts in 2006. He sold what would become his first novel, Fake ID, at 31.