Many great things coming up!

Our successful Kaylie Jones Books summer book tour took us all over the country. We traveled from Wisconsin to Florida, Vincennes to Scranton, and South Carolina all the way to Provincetown, at the very tip of Cape Cod.

The three of us — Kaylie and authors Barbara J. Taylor (ALL WAITING IS LONG) and J. Patrick Redmond (SOME GO HUNGRY) — met people at bookstores, libraries, and community events. We talked about gay kids from rural areas and how alone they feel, how Patrick’s novel is opening dialogues about LGBTQ youth in small towns across America. We talked about the Pennsylvania coal country that Barb writes about, the legacies of mine strikes and the eugenics movement.

We always talk about independent publishing, how important it is that small presses like Akashic Books continue to thrive, and the great things that happen when underrepresented voices are heard.

And THEN we took some badly needed time off — to do other things, like sleep and write. Both Barb and Patrick have new novels in the works that we’ll be sharing more about in the coming weeks.

We’ve got more titles in the pipeline, and two big events we’ll be speaking at, including the Miami Book Fair Nov. 19 and the AWP’s annual conference in Washington, D.C., in February. Stay tuned for all the details!