Alaya Dawn Johnson

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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.

Nebulae!

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Well, folks, this website has never been very up-to-date at the best of times, but considering that the last post I made was a year ago, I think I have exceeded myself! Still, some amazing things have been happening which I would like to share.

Love Is the Drug was nominated for the Andre Norton Award for Young Adult (and middle grade) literature by SFWA! I am so excited about this. The Summer Prince was nominated last year, and I am honored beyond words to have this recognition twice from my peers. Members of SFWA will be able to download a review copy until March 15 (though they can read it after). So please if you’re at all interested take the opportunity to get a copy during the window of its availability.

And secondly, my short story A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai’i, originally published in the July/August issue of F&SF, edited by the inimitable C.C. Finlay, is up for the novella Nebula Award! I truly feel that this is one of my best stories, though it’s in a category that is so stuffed with brilliant work I would just as happy not to win! But for the voters, SFWA members can access the story in the forums right now, and that link above also goes to an online version for easy access.

I’ve also posted this online because there are many Hugo voters who are not SFWA members. I’ve never  thought of the Hugo in a serious way before, but I am proud of this work and I would be very happy to be considered. So if you can vote for the Hugo, I hope you’ll take a look at this story and consider it for the Novella category.

That’s all for now. Greetings from sunny Mexico, where the food is delicious and I have way too much work to finish 🙂

Alaya

New YA novel, awards excitement

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Let me explain, no, let me sum up:

My next YA novel is coming out in the Fall of  this year. It’s called Love Is the Drug, it will be published once again by the fabulous team at Scholastic and Arthur A. Levine, and I can’t wait. It’s very different from The Summer Prince, but I think if you liked that one, you’ll enjoy this. I will wait to give details and a cover, but as a teeny preview: It’s a novel set in a Washington, DC private school in the midst of a global flu pandemic.

In other news, The Summer Prince made the longlist for the National Book Awards, Young People’s Literature category. It’s also made the Top Ten Rainbow List for 2014, which honors GLBTQ books for children and teens. Also, the YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults list. All very exciting, and I’m honored that this book has connected with so many people.

I have added an “appearances” section in my header, so if you’d like to meet me in person and maybe get a book signed be sure to check that regularly to find out when and where I will be.