Laura Steven


Laura Steven is an English novelist. She won the inaugural Comedy Women [in Print Prize] for her novel The Exact Opposite of Okay. Our Infinite Fates hit #1 on the New York Times Bestsellers list, and remained on the young adult hardcover list for 15 weeks. Her adult fantasy debut Silvercloak was an instant Sunday Times bestseller.
She has used comedy to explore feminist issues in her young adult novels, including an exploration of beauty in Every Exquisite Thing and female rage in The Society for Soulless Girls.

Early life

Steven grew up in Berwick-upon-Tweed. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism in 2013 and a Master of Arts in Creative Writing, both from Northumbria University.

Career

Steven began her career in magazine journalism. In 2014 at age 23 under the pseudonym Laura Salters, she signed her first book deal with Witness Impulse, through which she published her debut novel, a crime thriller titled Run Away, in 2015. This was followed by her second crime novel Perfect Prey in 2016.
Rebranding to Laura Steven, she gained prominence through her young adult Izzy O'Neill duology, the first of which, The Exact Opposite of Okay, was published in 2018 by Electric Monkeys. The sequel A Girl Called Shameless followed in 2019. Under the name Laura Kirkpatrick, she also published the middle-grade fantasy novel And Then I Turned into a Mermaid via Farshore Books. and its 2020 sequel Don't Tell Him I'm a Mermaid.
Also in 2020, Lime Pictures optioned the rights to adapt Steven's next young adult novel Love Hypothesis for television ahead of its release.
In 2023, it was announced that Steven had moved to Penguin Random House in a "major six-figure deal", including Our Infinite Fates, which would go on to become a #1 New York Times, USA Today and Indie bestseller.
The following year, Steven announced her adult fantasy debut trilogy with fantasy imprint Del Rey. Silvercloak, the first book in the series, was published under the pseudonym L.K. Steven and became an instant #5 Sunday Times bestseller in July 2025.

''Izzy O'Neill''

  • ''And Then I Turned into a Mermaid''

  • Stand-alone novels

  • ''Silvercloak Saga''

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