Nebraska Author Rainbow Rowell

A list of works by Nebraska author
Rainbow Rowell

Rainbow Rowell was born on February 24, 1973, in Nebraska.

Rowell attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where she earned a degree in journalism in 1995. At the age of 24, she became the youngest-ever and first-female columnist for the Omaha World Herald. She worked as a columnist and ad copywriter for the World Herald from 1995 to 2012. While still working as an ad copywriter, she began writing her first novel, Attachments, just to see if she could do it. Attachments, a contemporary adult romantic comedy, was released in 2011.

Rowell participated in National Novel Writing Month in 2011, completing the first draft of her YA novel Fangirl as part of that annual literary event. Fangirl was ultimately released as Rowell’s third novel in 2013, following hugely-popular YA novel Eleanor & Park. Rowell’s fourth novel was another “adult” title, Landline, dealing with a couple going through difficulties in their marriage. Her fifth novel, Carry On, is connected to Fangirl, in that it is the story of the characters in the work of fiction that Fangirl‘s characters are obsessed with. A sequel to Carry On, Wayward Son, is scheduled for release in 2020.

In 2017, Rowell, a life-long fan of comic books, had the opportunity to start working in the comics industry. She and artist Kris Anka are the creative forces behind a revival of fan-favorite series Runaways at Marvel Comics. Also in 2017, it was announced that Rowell was contracted to write two graphic novels, with artist Faith Erin Hicks. The first of these will be titled Pumpkinheads, which is scheduled for the release in 2019.

Rainbow Rowell lives in Omaha, Nebraska, with her husband and two children.

(Author photo is a courtesy photo provided to accompany a Daily Nebraskan profile of Rowell.)

You can find more information about Rainbow Rowell at the following web pages:

Rainbow Rowell’s official: Website | Twitter | Tumblr (Blog) | Facebook
Rainbow Rowell on Wikipedia

Books written by Rainbow Rowell

Attachments [Rowell or YA PB Rowell] [2011]

Beth Fremont and Jennifer Scribner-Snyder know that somebody is monitoring their work e-mail. (Everybody in the newsroom knows. It’s company policy.) But they can’t quite bring themselves to take it seriously. They go on sending each other endless and endlessly hilarious e-mails, discussing every aspect of their personal lives.

Meanwhile, Lincoln O’Neill can’t believe this is his job now- reading other people’s e-mail. When he applied to be “internet security officer,” he pictured himself building firewalls and crushing hackers- not writing up a report every time a sports reporter forwards a dirty joke.

When Lincoln comes across Beth’s and Jennifer’s messages, he knows he should turn them in. But he can’t help being entertained-and captivated-by their stories.

By the time Lincoln realizes he’s falling for Beth, it’s way too late to introduce himself.

What would he say…?

Kirkus Reviews – One of the outstanding debuts of 2011.

Eleanor & Park [YA Rowell] [2012]

Bono met his wife in high school , Park says.
So did Jerry Lee Lewis , Eleanor answers.
I’m not kidding , he says.
You should be , she says, we’re 16.
What about Romeo and Juliet?
Shallow, confused, then dead.
I love you , Park says.
Wherefore art thou, Eleanor answers.
I’m not kidding, he says.
You should be.

Set over the course of one school year in 1986, this is the story of two star-crossed misfits-smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love-and just how hard it pulled you under.

A New York Times Best Seller!
A 2014 Michael L. Printz Honor Book for Excellence in Young Adult Literature
Eleanor & Park is the winner of the 2013 Boston Globe Horn Book Award for Best Fiction Book.
A Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Book of 2013
A New York Times Book Review Notable Children’s Book of 2013
A Kirkus Reviews Best Teen Book of 2013
An NPR Best Book of 2013

Fangirl [YA Rowell] [2013]

Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan, but for Cath, being a fan is her life-and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving. Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere. Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to. Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words…And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone. For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories? Open her heart to someone? Or will she just go on living inside somebody else’s fiction?

Landline [Rowell] [2014]

From New York Times bestselling author of Eleanor & Park and Fangirl , Rainbow Rowell, comes a hilarious, heart-wrenching take on love, marriage, and magic phones.

Georgie McCool knows her marriage is in trouble. That it’s been in trouble for a long time. She still loves her husband, Neal, and Neal still loves her, deeply — but that almost seems beside the point now. Maybe that was always beside the point.

Two days before they’re supposed to visit Neal’s family in Omaha for Christmas, Georgie tells Neal that she can’t go. She’s a TV writer, and something’s come up on her show; she has to stay in Los Angeles. She knows that Neal will be upset with her — Neal is always a little upset with Georgie — but she doesn’t expect to him to pack up the kids and go without her.

When her husband and the kids leave for the airport, Georgie wonders if she’s finally done it. If she’s ruined everything.

That night, Georgie discovers a way to communicate with Neal in the past. It’s not time travel, not exactly, but she feels like she’s been given an opportunity to fix her marriage before it starts…

Is that what she’s supposed to do? Or would Georgie and Neal be better off if their marriage never happened?

Carry On (a.k.a. Carry On: The Rise and Fall of Simon Snow) [YA Rowell] [2015]

Simon Snow is the worst Chosen One who’s ever been chosen.

That’s what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he’s probably right.

Half the time, Simon can’t even make his wand work, and the other half, he sets something on fire. His mentor’s avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there’s a magic-eating monster running around wearing Simon’s face. Baz would be having a field day with all this, if he were here — it’s their last year at the Watford School of Magicks, and Simon’s infuriating nemesis didn’t even bother to show up.

Carry On is a ghost story, a love story and a mystery. It has just as much kissing and talking as you’d expect from a Rainbow Rowell story — but far, far more monsters.

Related thematically to Fangirl, as this is a novel featuring the “fictional characters” that are in the novels/films that the protagonists of Fangirl are obsessed about.

Kindred Spirits [not in library collection] [2016] (included in the 2022 short story collection Scattered Showers below)

This was a novella, released as an eBook first, then as a paperback, for World Book Day in 2016. Later included in the anthology Almost Midnight.

A short story about waiting and believing – but mostly waiting – by the New York Times bestselling author of Eleanor & Park, Fangirl and Carry On. All proceeds go to the ACLU Foundation.

When Elena decided to camp out for the next Star Wars movie, she was expecting a celebration, a communion — a line full of people who love Star Wars so much, they have to share it.

She wasn’t expecting this: a freezing sidewalk, nowhere to pee, and three nights stuck with a boy who decided not to like her before they even met.

It’s enough to make a girl leave the line…

But Elena came here for Star Wars, and it will take more than bad weather and a dumb boy to squash her spirits.

Almost Midnight [not in library collection] [2017] (included in the 2022 short story collection Scattered Showers below)

Almost Midnight by Rainbow Rowell is a beautiful gift edition containing two wintery short stories, decorated throughout for the first time with gorgeous black and white illustrations by Simini Blocker.

Midnights is the story of Noel and Mags, who meet at the same New Year’s Eve party every year and fall a little more in love each time…

Kindred Spirits is about Elena, who decides to queue to see the new Star Wars movie and meets Gabe, a fellow fan.

Midnights was previously published as part of the My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories anthology, edited by Stephanie Perkins and Kindred Spirits was previously published as a World Book Day title.

Runaways – Volume 1: Find Your Way Home (YA PB (Graphic Novel) Rowell)
[2017- ]

Get ready to run!

The “IT” book of the early 2000s with the original cast is back – Nico! Karolina! Molly! Chase! Old Lace! And, could it be? GERT?! The heart of the Runaways died years ago, but you won’t believe how she returns! Superstar author Rainbow Rowell makes her Marvel debut with fan-favorite artist Kris Anka (ALL-NEW X-MEN, CAPTAIN MARVEL) in the series that will shock you and break your heart! Did Chase and Gert’s love survive their time apart? Have Karolina and Nico’s feelings made their friendship impossible? What emotional landmines lie in wait to destroy the Runaways?!

Rainbow Rowell took over the writing, with art by Kris Anka, for a revived version of the Marvel Comics comic-book Runaways, which began as a monthly comic book in September 2017. So far, a single trade paperback compilation of the first six monthly issues has also been released.

Runaways – Volume 2: Best Friends Forever (YA PB (Graphic Novel) Rowell)
[2017]

The Runaways are a family again! But a family needs a guardian, and the only Runaway who’s got her life together is in middle school. And, even for a kid like Molly who likes her classes, that can be fraught with peril. Meanwhile, there’s a new arrival as the gang welcomes Karolina’s girlfriend – Julie Power of Power Pack! Having an experienced adventurer around will be useful when one of the universe’s most fearsome villains invades the hostel! But do some of the Runaways have mixed feelings about Julie’s arrival? As Molly contemplates a supernatural deal that must have a monkey’s paw-esque downside, one of the team suff ers a fate worse than death. Really! And will the Runaways’ greatest foe be…well-meaning outsiders who want to help them?! Your favorite super hero teen drama continues!

Runaways – Volume 3: That Was Yesterday (YA PB (Graphic Novel) Rowell)
[2019]

A lot has changed for your favorite super-teens. And a major villain from Runaways past is back in a way you won’t be able to predict! The kids have had a hard enough time with a grandma and a 13-year-old, so…things look pretty bleak for everyone in the world. Plus, see a story from a never-before-seen perspective!

Runaways – Volume 4: But You Can’t Hide (YA PB (Graphic Novel) Rowell)
[2019]

Pumpkinheads (YA PB (Graphic Novel) Rowell)
[2019]

Deja and Josiah are seasonal best friends.

Every autumn, all through high school, they’ve worked together at the best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world. (Not many people know that the best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world is in Omaha, Nebraska, but it definitely is.) They say good-bye every Halloween, and they’re reunited every September 1. But this Halloween is different ― Josiah and Deja are finally seniors, and this is their last season at the pumpkin patch. Their last shift together. Their last good-bye.

Josiah’s ready to spend the whole night feeling melancholy about it. Deja isn’t ready to let him. She’s got a plan: What if―instead of moping and the usual slinging lima beans down at the Succotash Hut ― they went out with a bang? They could see all the sights! Taste all the snacks! And Josiah could finally talk to that cute girl he’s been mooning over for three years…

What if their last shift was an adventure?

Beloved writer Rainbow Rowell and Eisner Award–winning artist Faith Erin Hicks have teamed up to create this tender and hilarious story about two irresistible teens discovering what it means to leave behind a place ― and a person ― with no regrets

Runaways – Volume 5: Cannon Fodder (YA PB (Graphic Novel) Rowell)
[2020]

The Prince and the Troll (not in library collection)
(2020) (included in the 2022 short story collection Scattered Showers below)

This was a novella, released as an eBook and eAudiobook

A charming everyman and a mysterious something-under-the-bridge cross paths in a short fairy tale by the number one New York Times bestselling author of Eleanor & Park and the Simon Snow series.

It’s fate when a man accidentally drops his phone off the bridge. It’s fortune when it’s retrieved by a friendly shape sloshing in the muck underneath. From that day forward, as they share a coffee every morning, an unlikely friendship blooms. Considering the reality for the man above, where life seems perfect, and that of the sharp-witted creature below, how forever after can a happy ending be?

If the Fates Allow (not in library collection)
(2021) (included in the 2022 short story collection Scattered Showers below)

This was a novella, released as an eBook and eAudiobook

Social distancing came easily to Reagan. Maybe a little too easily. She’s always liked people better from afar. But Reagan doesn’t want her grandpa to be alone for Christmas this year—he’s already spent too much time on his own in 2020. So she heads back to her hometown with a dish of holiday Jell-O salad, hoping they can have a little normalcy. Hoping it will be safe…

She isn’t expecting to run into the boy next door. Mason is all grown up now. He’s considerate. He’s funny. He doesn’t mind how prickly Reagan is — he maybe even likes it. And it makes Reagan feel like her defenses are falling. She needs her defenses, doesn’t she? In a time when six feet is close enough, how long can they keep their distance?

Scattered Showers (YA Rowell)
(2022)

Rainbow Rowell has won fans all over the world by writing about love and life in a way that feels true. In her first short story collection Scattered Showers, she gives us nine beautifully crafted love stories. Illustrated throughout by Jim Tierney.

Girl meets boy camping outside a movie theater. Best friends debate the merits of high school dances. A prince romances a troll. A girl romances an imaginary boy. And Simon Snow himself returns for a holiday adventure.

It’s a feast of irresistible characters, hilarious dialogue, and masterful storytelling, in short, everything you’d expect from a Rainbow Rowell book.

In Waiting (not in library collection)
(2023) (included in the 2022 short story collection Scattered Showers above)

This is an eNovella, which first appeared in Rowell’s collection, Scattered Showers and has now been published as a stand-alone eBook.

What happens to characters waiting to be written?

Anna is waiting. She’s fully developed. She has personality, depth, a supporting cast—she even has a cat. But Anna has been stuck here for years, watching far lesser characters get called into their own stories. James is new. He’s still taking shape. His backstory and motivation are changing every day. But James is so detailed, so crisp—so beautifully written—he must be destined for something great…He might even be a main character. They both know it’s only a matter of time before they’re separated—but they don’t want to wait for an unseen author to cast their fates. Drawn together and longing for more, James and Anna dare to build a narrative of their own.

This page added to the BookGuide site in July 2018 sdc — Last updated May 2023 sdc