Lauren DeStefano


Photo of Lauren DeStefano
Lauren DeStefano was born in New Haven, Connecticut and has never traveled far from the east coast. She graduated from Albertus Magnus College in 2007 with a Bachelor of Arts in English, and has been writing since childhood. 

She made her authorial debut by writing on the back of children's menus at restaurants and filling up the notepads in her mother's purse. Her very first manuscript was written on a yellow legal pad with red pen, and it was about a haunted shed that ate small children. She is the author of The Chemical Garden trilogy and the forthcoming Internment Chronicles series.



Author's Comment: Q: How did you get the idea for Wither?

A: This is a question I get often, and I'm never sure how to answer. I don't know. Insomnia. Flu medication. A story I heard (maybe it was on the news?) involving a genetically altered potato and children being born without the genes for certain cancers. The idea of altering nature fascinates me. Eliminating one problem might create a different problem. Maybe stripping the carbs from a potato means introducing a new sort of food allergy. Maybe altering human genetics to eradicate cancer will make humans more vulnerable to other ailments, or new ailments entirely. I don't stand on any particular side of the argument. I'm just a weaver of what ifs.

Nationality: American

Featured series by Lauren DeStefano


Chemical Garden - Age 14 & up