Roxane Gay has revealed the first three books that will be published under her new Grove Atlantic imprint.
The imprint from Gay, the author of Bad Feminist, Hunger, and other titles, will kick off next May with And Then He Sang a Lullaby, the debut novel from 23-year-old Nigerian writer and activist Ani Kayode Somtochukwu. The publisher describes the book as “a captivating and passionate love story about two young men who may have too far a distance to bridge to find their way to one another.”
In August of 2023, J.V. Lyons’ novel Lush Lives will follow. The book is “a literary romance about a headstrong artist, the Harlem brownstone she inherits from an aunt she did not know well, the mysteries it holds, and the intriguing but increasingly complicated connection she has with Parkie de Groot, an ambitious account executive at a New York auction house,” Grove Atlantic says.
And next November, Roxane Gay Books will publish Hot Springs Drive, a novel from Lindsay Hunter, the author of Ugly Girls and Eat Only When You’re Hungry. The book will tell the story of a woman whose “choices upend the lives of everyone around her and peels back the fragile veneer of two suburban families and the secrets roiling between them.”
“I’ve always had eclectic taste in reading and the first slate of titles for Roxane Gay Books reflects that and my love of powerful storytelling, unique narrative voice, and beautiful writing,” Gay said in a news release. “And all three of these novels embody what I value most in urgent, necessary fiction—they are intelligent and entertaining. I cannot wait to share these stories with the world in 2023.”
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
