Alaya Dawn Johnson

rhymes with papaya

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Turning inward

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The Library of Broken Worlds came out this past June, and I was deeply gratified by all the support and love I received at the incredible Octavia’s Bookshelf in Pasadena, California, where I had my book launch. Thank you so much to Brandy Colbert for such excellent (and healing!) conversation and the whole Octavia’s Bookshelf team, who have made such a beautiful, welcoming space for Black books and Black voices. It was a joy to see friends, old and new, and to celebrate the launch of a book that I truly love and am proud of.

I’ve now returned home to my beloved cerro, and I’m in the process of centering myself in my work again, and figuring out what I want my career to look like from now on. I probably won’t have a ton of news to post here, but one of my big plans is to ramp up my substack, A Stranger Comes Home, so please subscribe there if you’d like to read some of my essays about life as a writer and immigrant in rural Mexico. Between the pandemic, ever-rising global inequality, and demographic shifts, the publishing industry has changed and we writers have to figure out how to adapt ourselves with it. I feel more like a whale of writer than a squid, unfortunately. It’s going to take me some energy to figure out where to go from here, but I know that I will. I hope that you, whoever you are, will be interested to go in these new directions with me.

Abrazos,

Alaya

Fire on the horizon, counting down the weeks

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We’re heading into fire season here in Oaxaca. A haze is in the air and ash floats by when the wind is in the right direction. There’s not much you can do about it but pray it doesn’t get too close. Our house is solid concrete, no danger there, but we have to keep an eye out on the straw-thatched roof of my separate office.

I’m going up north, as they say here, to promote my new novel, The Library of Broken Worlds, which N.K. Jemisin called “modern epic poetry.” I’ll be in LA for Yallwest on April 29th and I’ll be back in that town on June 6th to celebrate the book launch. I am so excited to share this book with the world but it all feels a little distant from where I’m typing. I can’t wait to share that energy with fans and friends in a few weeks. Details are up for Yallwest, and are coming VERY SOON for the book launch. I’m also lining up a few other virtual and in-person appearances for June and July, so watch this space for more info. And of course, check out the book and preorder it if you can! Even recommending it to your local library is a huge help.

Abrazos,

Alaya

Odds and Ends in 2022

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Well, hello September 2022! I have finally given this site a long-overdue update, including my incredible collaboration with Janelle Monáe on The Memory Librarian AND my forthcoming novel The Library of Broken Worlds from Scholastic in June 2023. I’ll have a lot more about the new novel, which I am SO EXCITED ABOUT, so watch this space. I’m also delighted to share that my short story collection, Reconstruction, was a finalist for the Ignyte Award for Best Anthology/Collected Work, and also for the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award for Fiction.

Also, I am excited to announce that I’m offering editorial services! You can contact me directly here, or if you prefer, via Reedsy.

Finally, if you’d like to read essays about immigrant life in Mexico, writing, and my journey as a trauma survivor, please check out and subscribe to my newsletter A Stranger Comes Home. Bonus: I am most likely to post any announcements there first.

Trouble the Saints is out!

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As of Tuesday, July 21st, my first novel in six years, Trouble the Saints, is published and available wherever books are sold! I am so proud of this book and so excited for you to be able to read the product of so much effort and love. Kirkus Reviews has given it a starred review, calling it a “sad, lovely, blood-soaked song of a book.” It comes recommended by N.K. Jemisin and Kelly Link, so don’t take my word for it!

Please support your local bookstores if you can in these difficult times. You can order physical and e-copies from bookshop.org. And if you’d like to see me virtually, hear me talk about the book and read a little, please check out my events schedule! I’ll be doing events throughout the rest of July, August and September, so I hope to virtually meet some of you there!

Love and strength,

Alaya

New website, new books, new stories

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Why, hello there! I figured that this website was in need of re-design, considering that I cobbled the last one together a decade ago (ahem). It features the normal things you expect from an author website: bibliography, bio, announcements of events (more on that later), and some excerpts from my novels and a few short stories. I have a bunch of new writing coming out in the next year. Most notably, a new adult from Tor called Trouble the Saints (watch this space for more news in the months to come).

I also have a short story, “The Rules of the Land” appearing in the powerhouse anthology A Phoenix Must First Burn, edited by the inimitable Patrice Caldwell and published by Viking. The anthology comes out in March 2020. I have a second short story (well, really, a personal essay) coming out in the anthology Come On In, edited by Adi Alsaid, featuring YA stories of immigration by immigrants and children of immigrants. The essay is called “Volviéndome” and it’s about my experience of deciding to emigrate to Mexico. It will be published in Fall 2020 by Inkyard Press.