Brandy Colbert is the award-winning author of several books for children and teens, including The Only Black Girls in Town, The Revolution of Birdie Randolph, Stonewall Book Award winner Little & Lion, and the forthcoming The Voting Booth. She is co-writer of Misty Copeland's Life in Motion young readers edition, and her short fiction and essays have been published in a variety of critically acclaimed anthologies for young people. Her books have been chosen as Junior Library Guild selections, and have appeared on many best of lists, including the American Library Association's Best Fiction for Young Adults and Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers. She is on faculty at Hamline University's MFA program in writing for children, and lives in Los Angeles.
Brandy Colbert was born and raised in the Ozarks—more specifically, Springfield, Missouri—and earned a bachelors degree in journalism from Missouri State University.
The Revolution of Birdie Randolph (Little, Brown, 2019), her fourth novel, was named to ALA's Best Fiction for Young Adults, ALA's Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Readers, Booklist Editors' Choice, the Chicago Public Library Best Teen Fiction, and was a Junior Library Guild selection.
Her second novel, Little & Lion (Little, Brown, 2017), is the winner of ALA’s 2018 Stonewall Book Award; was named to ALA’s 2018 Best Fiction for Young Adults; and was named a Book of the Month Club selection, a Junior Library Guild selection, and a best book of 2017 by Kirkus Reviews, Booklist, Vulture, Bank Street, Bustle, BuzzFeed, Paste Magazine, and Seventeen magazine.
Finding Yvonne (Little, Brown, 2018), her third novel, was named to the Amelia Bloomer List of top feminist teen titles, the CCBC Choices list, the New York Public Library best books of the year, and was a Junior Library Guild selection. Her debut novel, Pointe (Putnam, 2014), won the 2014 Cybils Award for young adult fiction and was named a best book of 2014 by Publishers Weekly, BuzzFeed, Book Riot, the Chicago Public Library, and the Los Angeles Public Library. She was also chosen as a Publishers Weekly Flying Start for spring 2014.
Her work can also be seen in the anthologies Black Enough; Toil and Trouble; Our Stories, Our Voices; Three Sides of a Heart: Stories About Love Triangles; Feral Youth; Here We Are: Feminism for the Real World; and Summer Days & Summer Nights: Twelve Love Stories.
Her fifth novel, middle-grade debut The Only Black Girls in Town, was released from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers in March 2020 to numerous accolades, and her sixth novel, The Voting Booth, will be released in July 2020.
Brandy is on faculty at Hamline University’s MFA program in writing for children. She lives in Los Angeles where she works as a copy editor for magazines and books. Her writing is represented by Tina Dubois at ICM Partners.
