Beth Reekles

Incredibly talented Beth Reekles is a young Welsh author who found international fame as a teenager when her first novel, The Kissing Booth, became a huge success and saw her signed to a multi-book deal with Penguin Random House. She has since published three more young-adult novels: Rolling Dice, Out of Time, and The Kissing Booth 2: Going the Distance. Both of the Kissing Booth novels have been adapted for the screen, spawning three Netflix films. In 2022, she will publish her first adult novel, Love, Locked Down.

Reekles was born in Newport, Wales. A voracious reader, she had tired of fantasy fiction by her mid teens and so began writing a young-adult novel of her own, The Kissing Booth, which she first published on the story-sharing website, Wattpad. The story became a success on the platform and won the site’s 2011 prize for Most Popular Teen Fiction. It was then quickly picked up by one of the world’s biggest publishers: Penguin Random House, who signed Reekles to a three-book contract. By 2013, she was being cited by Time magazine as one of the Most Influential Teens of the year and named by The Times as a “new icon” for her generation.

Despite all of this incredible fame, Reekles still found time to attend the University of Exeter to study for a degree in Physics. However, creative writing has never been far from her thoughts, and she has continued to publish successful stories to her ever-growing fanbase. The release of Love, Locked Down sees her transition away from the young-adult fiction she has become known for and venture into the world of adult fiction. As her audience has grown up with her, it’ll be a seamless transition.