Laura Steven

Laura Steven (born 1991; 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 (her re-telling of The Picture of Dorian Gray) and female rage in The Society for Soulless Girls (her re-telling of Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde).

Early life Steven grew up in Berwick-upon-Tweed. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Journalism in 2013 and a Master of Arts (MA) 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 (a HarperCollins imprint), 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 (an Egmont Books imprint). Under the name Laura Kirkpatrick, she also published the middle-grade fantasy novel And Then I Turned into a Mermaid via Farshore Books (formerly Egmont Books, since acquired by HarperCollins UK). 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.