Nic Stone

Stone in 2017

Her debut novel Dear Martin, about a high school senior in a predominantly white school who starts writing letters to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. after he has a dangerous encounter with racist police officers, was sold as a proposal in a two-book deal[7] and published in 2017 by Crown Books for Young Readers.[8] Stone has stated she began writing her debut novel Dear Martin after the death of Jordan Davis, a 17-year-old black high school student who was fatally shot by a white man in a hate crime in 2017.[9] The book debuted on the New York Times bestseller list at #4.[10] It was also chosen as a finalist for the William C. Morris award in 2017[11] and received a starred review from Booklist.[12] It has been published and translated in Germany, Brazil, Indonesia, The Netherlands, UK, Turkey, and Romania.[13] Two years after it was first published, Dear Martin again hit the New York Times bestseller list, for Young Adult Paperbacks and at #1, in February 2020.[14]

A sequel, Dear Justyce, about an incarcerated teen who is on trial for murder charges, was published in October 2020. Stone says she wasn't planning on writing a sequel. but encouraged by her publisher, and decided to write a book about a " black boy that everybody is afraid of."[6]

Her Middle Grade debut, Clean Getaway, illustrated by Dawud Anyabwile, was published by Crown in January 2020.[15] It tells the story of an 11-year-old Scoob, who goes on a roadtrip with his grandmother.[16] It received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly[17] and Booklist,[18] and debuted on the Children's Middle Grade Hardcover New York Times bestseller list, at #5.[19] Stone says the inspiration for the novel was a Twitter headline about a shoplifting grandma in Atlanta who turned out to be an international jewel thief.[16]

Her second young adult novel, Odd One Out, is about three queer teenagers of color in a love triangle and explores themes of gender, sexual fluidity and identity.[20] It was published in 2018 by Crown Books for Young Readers.[21][22] It also received a starred review from Booklist.[23] In 2019, her third novel, Jackpot, following a gas station clerk that she sold a winning lottery ticket to, was published by Crown.[6] Stone originally wrote the novel in 2015.[24]

In September 2019, it announced that Stone would write a novel focused on Shuri, from Marvel's Black Panther.[25] It was published by Scholastic in 2020.[25]

Aside from young adult fiction and middle grade, Stone also writes essays, and her short fiction has appeared in multiple anthologies.