25-year-old debut novelist Lauren DeStefano just inked a six-figure deal for The Last Chemical Garden–the first book in a dystopian trilogy about genetics and “a failed effort to create a perfect race.” The book is scheduled for an April 2011 release.
Barbara Poelle from the Irene Goodman Literary Agency sold the book to Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers senior editor Alexandra Cooper.
DeStefano (pictured) has her own blog and bio here. The young author had this statement: “There’s so much debate when it comes to genetics–what’s natural, what’s fair, and when science begins to cross the line … I just took that idea and let myself get carried away.”