Claire Legrand

**Claire Legrand** (born 1986) is an American author who primiarly writes middle grade and young adult fiction. She is most well known for penning *The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls*, *Sawkill Girls* and *The Empirium Trilogy*.

## Biography

Legrand was born on May 2, 1986. She was raised in Irving, Texas, and currently resides in central New Jersey.

After graduating from high school, Legrand got the idea for *The Empirium Trilogy*. During a trip back home, Legrand was listening to the soundtrack for Percy Jackson's *Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King* when she got a vision of a young women surrounded by a field of fire. The more Legrand asked herself questions about the women- why she was feeling certain emotions, who her loved ones and ememies were, and so on- the more a story surrounding her began to develop. This women would become the character Rielle, with the world she lived in growing around her.

At that point, however, Legrand was already planning to become a professional orchestral trumpet player. She took two years of musical studies before deciding to pursue a career in writing. She would end up graduating from the University of North Texas with an undergraduate degree in English literature and a graduate degree in library science.

Throughout her college career, Legrand continued to work on the first draft of *Furyborn*. Once it was finished, she sent out query letters to various agents who might help her get this story published. However, the original version of *Furyborn* was too long and not polished enough to be able to sell. She decided to postpone work on *The Empirium Trilogy* in favor of a different story that might be better able to land her an agent. After completing the draft for *The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls*, she sent out query letters, and was able to find an agent. *Cavendish* would become her debut novel, released in 2012. She would continue to write other stories while simultanously working on *The Empirium Trilogy* whenever she had free time. Once *Furyborn* was ready, Legrand's agent sent out a partial submission to various publishing houses. Tweleve years after the trilogy's conception, it eventually found a home with Sourcebooks Fire.

## Bibliography

### Children

Standalones
* *The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls* (2012)
* *The Year of Shadows* (2013)
* *Some Kind of Happiness* (2016)

*Foxheart*
* *Foxheart* (2016)
* *Thornlight* (2021) - companion novel

### Young Adult

Standalones
* *Sawkill Girls* (2018)
* *Extasia* (2022)

*Winterspell*
* *Winterspell* (2014)
* *Summerfall* (2014) — prequel novella
* *Homecoming* (2014) — short story epilogue

*The Empirium Trilogy*
* *Furyborn* (Sourcebooks Fire, May 22 2018)
* *Kingsbane* (Sourcebooks Fire, May 21 2019)
* *Lightbringer* (Sourcebooks Fire, October 13 2020)
* *Queen of the Blazing Throne* (2020) - novella, ebook, limited release

### Adult

*The Middlemist Trilogy*
* *A Crown of Ivy and Glass* (2023)

### Contributed to:

* *The Cabinet of Curiosities: 36 Tales Brief & Sinister* (2014)
* *Guys Read: Terrifying Tales* (2015)
* *Been There, Done That: Writing Stories from Real Life* (2015)

## Gallery

### Photos

Legrand's author pictureLegrand holding a copy of *Sawkill Girls*Legrand holding up a pile of rejection letters
### Videos

Meet Claire Legrand, author of Furyborn (The Empirium Trilogy 1)
## Trivia

* Of the *Empirium* characters, Legrand has cited Audric Courverie as being the most like her in terms of personality.
* Before becoming a full time writer, Legrand worked as a public librarian.
* Of the books she has written, Legrand's favorite is a tie between *Some Kind of Happiness*, *Sawkill Girls*, and *Lightbringer*.

## References

1. ↑ SourcebooksInc (October 31, 2017). Meet Claire Legrand, author of Furyborn (The Empirium Trilogy #1) (Video). YouTube. Retrieved on March 19, 2021.
2. ↑ Claire Legrand. Where do you live now?. Sourcebooks Fire. Retrieved on March 25, 2021. “I live in central New Jersey.”
3. ↑ Claire Legrand. What made you decide to be a writer?. Sourcebooks Fire. Retrieved on March 25, 2021. “I got the idea for the Empirium Trilogy right after high school...”
4. ↑ Claire Legrand. What inspired you to write the Empirium Trilogy?. Sourcebooks Fire. Retrieved on March 25, 2021.
5. ↑ Claire Legrand. What made you decide to be a writer?. Sourcebooks Fire. Retrieved on March 25, 2021. “I decided to leave music behind and pursue writing exclusively”
6. ↑ Claire Legrand. Where did you go to school?. Sourcebooks Fire. Retrieved on March 25, 2021.
7. ↑ Claire Legrand. How did you get the Empirium Trilogy published?. Sourcebooks Fire. Retrieved on March 25, 2021.
8. ↑ Claire Legrand. Who is your favorite character?. Sourcebooks Fire. Retrieved on March 15, 2021. “Audric is probably the most like me.”
9. ↑ Claire Legrand. Do you have a day job?. Sourcebooks Fire. Retrieved on April 3, 2021. “In the past, I've worked as a public librarian.”
10. ↑ Claire Legrand. Out of all the books you've written, which one is your favorite?. Sourcebooks Fire. Retrieved on April 3, 2021. “Probably a three-way tie between *Some Kind of Happiness*, *Sawkill Girls*, and *Lightbringer*.”