Marjorie M. Liu is an American New York Times best-selling author and comic book writer. She is acclaimed for her horror fantasy comic Monstress, and her paranormal romance and urban fantasy novels including The Hunter Kiss and Tiger Eye series. Her work for Marvel Comics includes NYX, X-23, Dark Wolverine, and Astonishing X-Men. In 2015 Image Comics debuted her creator-owned series Monstress, for which she was nominated for an Eisner Award for Best New Series. In 2017 she won a Hugo Award for the first Monstress trade paperback collection. In July 2018 she became the first woman in the 30-year history of the Eisner Awards to win the Eisner Award for Best Writer for her work on Monstress.
Early life and education Liu was born in Philadelphia, and grew up in Seattle, Washington.Liu, Marjorie M. "About the Author", marjoriemliu.com, accessed December 29, 2010. Her father is Taiwanese, while her mother is an American of French, Scottish and Irish descent. She developed an early love of reading, from books such as Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie books, and the works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Joseph Campbell, Charles de Lint and Jorge Luis Borges.White, Claire E. "A Conversation With Marjorie M. Liu", The Internet Writing Journal, accessed December 29, 2010.
Liu graduated from Lawrence University with a bachelor's degree in East Asian studies and biomedical ethics in 2000. As an undergraduate, she designed a fan site called The Wolverine and Jubilee page, after her discovery of numerous X-Men fan sites that she admired. Although she had never read comic books as a child, she was familiar with the X-Men through the animated TV series and via fan fiction. She first purchased X-Men and Wolverine comics for reference for her fanfic from Powerhouse Comics in Appleton, Wisconsin. Writing fanfic helped her improve her storytelling skills.Press, David. "INTERVIEW: Marjorie Liu talks 'Dark Wolverine' and 'Darkness Calls'." , Daily Planet, June 23, 2009
After graduating, she attended the University of Wisconsin Law School. As a law student, she interned in Beijing working at the Foreign Agriculture Service at the U.S. Embassy, which at the time, was dealing with the Chinese government's new rules regarding the import of genetically modified food. She graduated in May 2003, and was soon admitted to the bar.
Career
Despite enjoying law school, Liu was disillusioned with the life of a lawyer. Instead she decided to become a writer. She published poetry, short stories, and non-fiction pieces, then submitted her first novel, a paranormal romantic adventure set in China and the United States entitled Tiger Eye. She wrote it in one month. She submitted it to several publishers before it was acquired by Dorchester, and published in November 2007.Tiger Eye at Amazon.com, accessed December 30, 2010. She wrote a sequel to Tiger Eye, then produced A Taste of Crimson, the sequel to Liz Maverick's Crimson City, which was published in August 2005.A Taste of Crimson at Amazon.com, accessed December 29, 2010.
After seeing a little boy dressed as Spider-Man at a book convention in Tucson, Arizona, Liu told her former literary agent Lucienne Diver that she would enjoy writing for Marvel Comics. Diver, who knew a Marvel acquisition editor seeking authors for Marvel tie-in novels at Pocket Books, made inquiries. Pocket had already hired enough authors for the Spider-Man books, but they had not hired anyone to write tie-in novels for the X-Men.
Liu produced the X-Men novel Dark Mirror for Pocket in 2005, but it was three years before that she landed her first comics assignment at Marvel, the X-Men spin-off NYX.Lin, Peter. "X-23: Daddy's Little Girl", Here Be Geeks, November 20, 2010 She served as co-writer on Marvel's Daken: Dark Wolverine with Daniel Way, and wrote the X-23 series, which ended with #21.
Liu wrote the final 21 issues for Marvel's Astonishing X-Men series with artist Mike Perkins from 2012 to 2013. The series received media attention for featuring Marvel Comics' first gay wedding between Northstar and longterm partner Kyle in issue #51 (August 2012).Moore, Matt (May 22, 12). "Marvel Comics plans wedding for gay hero Northstar". The San Francisco Chronicle. According to Marvel Comics editor-in-chief Axel Alonso, the issue comes as a response to real-world legalization of same sex marriage in New York. Liu was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award in 2013.
In 2015, Liu taught a course at MIT on comic book writing and participated at the VONA/VOICES Workshop as guest lecturer at UC Berkeley for popular fiction.
In 2015 Image Comics debuted Liu's comics series, Monstress, which gained wide publicity for its exploration of racism, the effects of war, and feminism.
In July 2018 Liu became the first woman in the 30-year history of the Eisner Awards to win the Eisner Award for Best Writer for her work on Monstress. She shared the award with writer Tom King, who received it for his work on Batman books and Mister Miracle.
Personal life As of December 2012, Liu had been in a relationship with author Junot Díaz and living with him in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Writings Novels Dirk & Steele series #TitleAlso InPublication DateComments1Tiger Eye20052Shadow Touch20063The Red Heart of Jade20063.5A Dream of Stone and ShadowsDark DreamersSep 2006NYT Best Seller4Eye of Heaven20065Soul Song20076The Last Twilight 20087The Wild Road20088The Fire King 20099In the Dark of Dreams201010Within the Flames201111Where the Heart LivesAug 2012
Hunter Kiss {| class="wikitable" !# !Title !Also In !Publication Date |- |1 |The Iron Hunt | |2008 |- |2 |Darkness Calls | |2008 |- |2.5 |Hunter Kiss |Wild Thing |May 2007 |- |2.6 |Armor of Roses |Inked
Armor of Roses and the Silver Voice |Jan 2010 |- |3 |A Wild Light | |Jul 2010 |- |3.5 |The Silver Voice |Armor of Roses and the Silver Voice''' |Dec 2011 |- |4 |The Mortal Bone| |2011 |- |5 |Labyrinth of Stars| |2014
Other novels A Taste of Crimson: Crimson City, Book 2 (2005) X-Men: Dark Mirror (2005)
Short fiction Anthology or CollectionContentsPublication DateDark Dreamers"A Dream of Stone and Shadows" (Dirk & Steele noella)Sep 2006Holidays are Hell"Six"Jan 2007Wild Thing"Hunter Kiss"May 2007My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon"Where the Heart Lives"Dec 2007Hotter than Hell (edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Kim Harrison)"Minotaur in Stone"Jun 2008HuntressThe Robber BrideJun 2009Never After"The Tangleroot Palace"Nov 2009Inked"Armor of Roses"Jan 2010Masked (edited by Lou Anders) "Call Her Savage" (a.k.a. "The Light and the Fury")Jul 2010Songs of Love and Death (edited by Gardner Dozois and George R. R. Martin)"After the Blood"Nov 2010Armor of Roses and The Silver Voice"Armor of Roses"
The Silver VoiceDec 2011An Apple for the Creature (edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni Kelner)Sympathy for the BonesSep 2012The Mad Scientist's Guide to World Domination (edited by John Joseph Adams)"The Last Dignity of Man"Feb 2013The Starlit Wood (edited by Dominick Perisen and Navah Wolfe)"Briar and Rose"Oct 2016
ComicsNYX: No Way Home #1 - 6 (Marvel Comics, 2008–2009)Dark Wolverine #75 - 90 (co-written with Daniel Way, Marvel Comics, 2009–2010)X-23 Vol. 2 #1- Women of Marvel one-shot (Marvel Comics, 2010)Black Widow Vol. 4 #1 - 5 (Marvel Comics, 2010)Girl Comics #3 (Wolverine & Jubilee story only, Marvel Comics, 2010)Wolverine: Road to Hell - one-shot (Marvel Comics, 2010)Daken: Dark Wolverine #1 - 9 (co-written with Daniel Way, Marvel Comics, 2010–2011) (continuation of Dark Wolverine)X-23 Vol. 3 #1 - 21 (Marvel Comics, 2010–2012)Jim Henson's Storyteller ("Puss in Boots", Archaia, 2013)Astonishing X-Men Vol. 3 #48 - #68, (Marvel Comics, 2012–2013)X-Termination #1 (Marvel Comics, 2013)X-Treme X-Men Vol. 2 #13 (Marvel Comics, 2013)Legends of Red Sonja #4 (Dynamite, 2014)Monstress (Image Comics, 2015-present)Star Wars: Han Solo (Marvel Comics, 2016)The Night Eaters (Abrams, 2022-2025)
Nonfiction "Ghost" in The Secret Lives of Geek Girls'' (2015) edited by Hope Nicholson
Awards and nominations YearWorkAward NameCategoryResultRef2005A Taste of CrimsonPEARL AwardBest Futuristicn/aPEARL AwardBest New AuthorTiger EyeRomantic Times Reviewers' Choice AwardBest Contemporary Paranormal Romance2008The Last TwilightRomantic Times Reviewers' Choice AwardBest Shapeshifter RomanceThe Iron HuntRomantic Times Reviewers' Choice AwardBest Urban Fantasy2011The Mortal BoneRomantic Times Reviewers' Choice NomineeParanormal RomanceWithin the FlamesRomantic Times Book of the YearEditor's Choice2012The Mortal BoneRomantic Times Reviewers' Choice AwardUrban Fantasy Worldbuilding2013Astonishing X-MenGLAAD Media AwardOutstanding Comic Book2016MonstressEisner AwardsBest Writer2017Han SoloEisner AwardsBest Limited SeriesMonstressEisner AwardsBest Publication for TeensMonstress, Volume 1: AwakeningHugo AwardBest Graphic Story2018Monstress, Volume 2: The BloodHugo AwardBest Graphic StoryMonstressEisner AwardsBest Writer 2019Monstress, Volume 3: HavenBram Stoker AwardBest Graphic NovelMonstress, Volume 3: HavenHugo AwardBest Graphic StoryMonstress, Volume 4: The ChosenBram Stoker AwardBest Graphic Novel2020Monstress, Volume 4: The ChosenHugo AwardBest Graphic Story2022Monstress, Volume 6: The VowHugo AwardBest Graphic Story2023Monstress, Volume 7: DevourerHugo AwardBest Graphic Story
References
External links
The Wolverine and Jubilee Page, accessed December 29, 2010. — Fan site designed by Marjorie Liu.