N E W S . & . U P D A T E S January 12, 2012 Happy New Year, guys! Hope you all had a fantastic holiday season. To kick things off in 2012, I have some very exciting news: I am going on a book tour in February! Penguin has announced their Breathless Reads tour, which will include myself and three amazing authors: Andrea Cremer, Beth Revis, and Jessica Spotswood. Check out our tentative tour stops below. Hope to see you at one or more events! Wed., Feb. 15, 2012 Chicago Anderson's Bookshop Thurs., Feb. 16, 2012 Washington, D.C. Politics and Prose Fri., Feb. 17, 2012 New York City Dolphin Bookstore Books of Wonder public event @ 6 PM Sat., Feb. 18, 2012 Philadelphia Towne Center Book & Cafe Sun., Feb. 19, 2012 Philadelphia Doylestown Bookshop Tues., Feb. 21, 2012 Atlanta Little Shop of Stories Wed., Feb. 22, 2012 Houston Blue Willow Bookshop Thurs., Feb. 23, 2012 Dallas Barnes & Noble, Frisco Fri., Feb. 24, 2012 Los Angeles Once Upon A Time Sat., Feb. 25, 2012 Los Angeles Passion and Prose event @ Westin Long Beach More details coming. See you there! December 13, 2011 Holy CRAP--where has the time gone? Sorry for my absence! Launch week for Legend was a whirlwind of excitement and I am so extremely grateful to everyone for all the amazing Legend support! Let's see if I can do a quick round-up of what's happened since the last update: 1) The New York Times ran an amazing review of Legend! 2) Mysterious Galaxy (Redondo Beach) hosted a fabulous launch party for Legend, and the lovely Dianne Garcia from LA Weekly covered the event! 3) The lovely gals at Defective Geeks did an awesome coverage for Legend! 4) MTV.com covered Legend in an interview here! 5) Interview with Entertainment Weekly! 6) The Fab Life (VH1) covers Legend here! And thank you all once again for an absolutely fantastic and exciting launch week! I'm absolutely thrilled to pieces. November 16, 2011 There are now less than two weeks before Legend's launch on Nov. 29! And I have an event that I'd love for you to come to: What: Legend's official launch party event! Where: Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore, 2810 Artesia Blvd, Redondo Beach, CA When: Thursday, Dec. 1st from 7:30pm - 8:30pm If you happen to be in or near the Los Angeles area during that time on Dec. 1st, I would absolutely love to see you! October 15, 2011 Legend has gotten starred reviews from FIVE places now: Publisher's Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, VOYA, Library Media Connection, and Booklist! Wow, huge thanks to all--I am so honored and thrilled! August 1, 2011 More excitement after the USA Today article--today, the Wall Street Journal (!!!) has two articles about Legend! One is online, and the other is in their print edition: Online: ‘Twilight’ Producers, Penguin Are Betting on ‘Legend’ 2nd article (requires WSJ subscription): Penguin Puts Marketing Muscle Behind 'Legend,' a Dystopian Debut In other news, I've added new art to the Media section, and started a Fan Art section there as well, with 2 gorgeous pieces of fan art to start! July 19, 2011 I'm so excited by this! USA Today has run an article featuring Legend, Legend's first three chapters, and finally, Legend's official book trailer!! To see all these goodies, go see the article! June 2, 2011 CBS Films and Temple Hill have tapped screenwriters Andrew Barrer and Gabe Ferrari to adapt Legend! Hollywood Reporter: "CBS Films Taps Writers to Adapt 'Legend' Novel" May 12, 2011 CBS Films and Temple Hill have attached director Jonathan Levine to Legend! Woot--this guy is directing Warm Bodies, a zombie drama/romance, which is all kinds of awesome. :D New York Magazine: "Twilight Producers Find a Director for Their Next Trilogy" April 27, 2011 It's official, guys! Legend has a cover and an official landing page: Legend the Series! Check it: February 4, 2011 LEGEND's movie rights have sold to CBS Films in a pre-emptive bid, with Twilight producers Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen to produce! Publishers Marketplace announcement and Article Links are below. From Publishers Marketplace: --- FILM RIGHTS Marie Lu's LEGEND, set in the flooded Republic of Los Angeles 2130 A.D., about a boy who is the Republic's most wanted criminal and a girl who is the Republic's most beloved government prodigy whose paths cross when her brother is murdered and she is hired to hunt down the boy responsible -- but the truth they uncover will become legend, optioned to CBS Films with Temple Hill producers Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey (The Twilight Saga, Dear John), in a major deal, by Kassie Evashevski at UTA on behalf of Kristin Nelson at Nelson Literary Agency. --- Deadline Hollywood: "CBS Films Makes Franchise Play With Marie Lu Novel 'Legend'" Variety: "CBS Films Acquires 'Legend' Rights" PR Newswire: "CBS Films Acquires Marie Lu's Forthcoming Novel Legend" BSCReview: "Marie Lu's 'Legend' Headed to Theaters" October 1, 2010 So I was digging through some of my old files, and I stumbled across this ugly rock of memorabilia. :) I found the very, very first completed novel manuscript I ever wrote, a 160,000-word fantasy called The Wings of Heaven. (In thinking back, I don't know why I named it The Wings of Heaven, since the story had absolutely nothing to do with wings from Heaven.) I wrote it when I was 14-15 years old, and I am so amused by it that I thought I'd post the very first chapter of it here. Could I have used any more adjectives to describe a man's eyes? No, I don't think so. See, folks? Nothing cures horrendous writing like practice .... or in my case, the end of my teenage years. September 7, 2010 A new teaser trailer for LEGEND is now under the Media section! September 7, 2010 It's finally official! Here is the news of LEGEND's sale to Putnam Children's [Penguin Group USA] in Publisher's Marketplace and Publisher's Weekly: --- FICTION: YOUNG ADULT Flash media and online game artist Marie Lu's debut LEGEND trilogy, set in the flooded Republic of Los Angeles 2130 A.D., about a boy who is the Republic's most wanted criminal and a girl who is the Republic's most beloved government prodigy whose paths cross when her brother is murdered and she is hired to hunt down the boy responsible -- but the truth they uncover will become legend, to Jen Besser at Putnam Children's [Penguin Group], in a major deal, at auction, for fall 2011 publication, by Kristin Nelson at Nelson Literary Agency (World). query@nelsonagency.com UK & Foreign: helen.boomer@us.penguingroup.com Film: EvashevskiK@unitedtalent.com --- Putnam Kids Invests in Facebook Game Designer Jennifer Besser at G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers [Penguin Group] bought world rights, in a three-book deal, to the debut dystopian novel by Marie Lu, Legend. Lu works as an art director for a Los Angeles video game company (note: actually the company is in Austin but that's ok :) ), and the book is built around the world she created for a Facebook game, also called Legend, that currently has over 13,000 subscribers. The book is set in 2130 in a Los Angeles that has been submerged by flooding. A girl who is a prodigy being groomed for government work meets a boy who is one of the state's most-wanted criminals. The main characters' love story—she's tasked with finding his brother's killer—is based loosely on Les Misérables. Legend, which is scheduled for December 2011, is the first book in a planned trilogy; Kristin Nelson at Nelson Literary brokered the deal, and Kassie Evashevski at UTA is handling film rights. --- marielu.org © 2010