Selected Editing Projects
Starry Starry Night
A stark, tender portrait of a childhood ruptured, voiced from the perspective of the author’s younger self growing up in Trinidad. Shani Mootoo’s critically acclaimed novels have been long- and shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the International DUBLIN Literary Award, and the Booker Prize.
Forthcoming spring 2025.
Post-Traumatic
by Chantal V. Johnson
Little, Brown
In this “deeply original” (Elif Batuman) and “violently funny” (Myriam Gurba) story, a young lawyer finally confronts her dark past so she can live in a more peaceful future. Post-Traumatic is a new kind of survivor narrative, featuring a complex heroine who is blazingly, indelibly alive. With razor-sharp prose and mordant wit, Chantal V. Johnson performs an extraordinary feat, delivering a psychologically astute story about the aftermath of trauma that somehow manages to brim with warmth, laughter, and hope.
The Cult of Creativity
by Sam Franklin
University of Chicago Press
Creativity is the secret to personal happiness and the key to the future—at least according to a constant stream of popular books, magazines, and TED talks. Cultural historian Sam Franklin offers a revelatory history of how, in the mid-twentieth century, we came to believe in the concept of creativity. Named a best book of 2023 by the New Yorker and a notable book of 2023 by Behavioral Scientist.
The Human Swarm
The epic story, the ultimate big history, and a “remarkable intellectual achievement” (Quarterly Review of Biology), describing how human society evolved from intimate chimp communities into the sprawling civilizations of a world-dominating species.
A Forbes Must-Read Book of 2019
A Kirkus Best Book of 2019
While the Gods Were Sleeping
Love and marriage brought American anthropologist Elizabeth Enslin to a world she never planned to make her own: a life among Brahman in-laws in a remote village in the plains of Nepal. As she faced the challenges of married life, birth, and childrearing in a foreign culture, she discovered as much about human resilience, and the capacity for courage, as she did about herself.
Hos, Hookers, Call Girls, and Rent Boys
edited by David Henry Sterry and R. J. Martin Jr.
Soft Skull Press
The only thing the writers in this book have in common is that they’ve exchanged sex for money. This anthology hands the mike to an underrepresented and marginalized population. “An eye-opening, occasionally astonishing, brutally honest and frequently funny collection from those who really have lived on the edge in a parallel universe.” —New York Times Book Review
We Walked On
by Thérèse Soukar Chehade
Regal House Publishing
In this immersive novel set during Lebanon’s civil war, a fourteen-year-old Rita and her teacher, Hisham, counter violence with the redemptive power of books and human connection. A timely novel about what it’s like to live in a war zone, how war corrupts our moral sense, and how to survive and endure in an unjust world.
The Nosferatu Conspiracy trilogy
The Sleepwalker • The Sommelier • The Last Seraph
by Brian James Gage
K13 Media
A sprawling gothic supernatural thriller that begins in Saint Petersburg, Russia, with the fall of the Romanov dynasty, and ends at the height of World War I. This alternative history has it all: vampires, demons, giant spiders, and famous murderers, as well as a richly developed and memorable cast of characters. Funny, scary, incredibly imaginative—a totally enjoyable read.
Honoria
by Janice Shapiro
Fantagraphics
Achingly sad and effortlessly funny, short story writer and cartoonist Janice Shapiro’s debut graphic novel is the complex story of a friendship between two girls, drawn from the real-life story of Sara and Gerald Murphy, who hosted the early twentieth century’s most vibrant writers in their literary summers on the Riviera.
Forthcoming spring 2025.
The Colony
by Jillian Weise
Soft Skull Press
A sharp-witted and acerbic young teacher accepts an invitation to the nation’s largest research colony, where DNA pioneer James D. Watson hopes to “cure” her of a rare gene that affects her bone growth. Eugenics, body horror, eros, and medical ethics collide in this “ambitious, provocative, and wildly inventive” dystopian satire (Publishers Weekly).
Same Time Next Week
edited by Lee Gutkind
Creative Nonfiction/In Fact Books
Eighteen frank, intimate true stories that reflect the writers’ struggles to overcome—as professionals and individuals, current therapists and former patients—the challenges presented by depression, bipolar disorder, OCD, and other disorders. This hopeful collection highlights the need for empathy and compassion between therapist and patient and argues for a system that encourages human connection rather than diagnosis by checklist.
Confessions of a Teenage Jesus Jerk
by Tony DuShane
Soft Skull Press
A hilarious and poignant novel about coming of age as a Jehovah’s Witness. “As a former practitioner, DuShane writes with an insider’s perspective about this unique world, balancing criticism with understanding and a convincing portrait of the struggle to integrate religion into a modern world, producing an ultimately touching story that will speak to atheists and believers alike.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Why We Need to Be Wild
by Jessica Carew Kraft
Sourcebooks
Jessica Carew Kraft, an urban wife and mom of two, walks away from her high-powered career in tech to join the “rewilding” community, people who reject the comforts and convenience of civilization by using ancient tools and skills to survive. Weaving deep research and reportage with her own personal journey, she explores the potential benefits rewilding has for us and our planet, and questions what it truly means to be a human in today’s tech-driven world. A thought-provoking narrative that illuminates how we survived in the past, how we live now, and how each of us can choose to thrive in the years ahead.
The Fine Art of Literary Fist-Fighting
by Lee Gutkind
Yale University Press
An account of the emergence of creative nonfiction, written by the “godfather” of the genre. Gutkind discusses the genre’s evolution, the lives and work of its notable practitioners, and the ethics of writing creative nonfiction, including how writers handle the distinctions between fact and fiction.
They Called Us Girls
Insightful, personalized portraits of seven women who came of age in mid-twentieth-century America and went on to achieve excellence and renown in professions traditionally reserved for men. Kathleen Stone weaves stories of female ambition, uncovering the families, teachers, mentors, and historical events that led to unexpected paths. What inspired these women, and what can they teach women and girls today?
Remote
by D. J. Lee
Oregon State University Press
When D. J. Lee’s dear friend vanishes in the vast Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness of Idaho and Montana, she travels there to seek answers. The journey caps her fifteen-year quest to uncover the buried history of her family in this remote place. A penetrating memoir that weaves Lee’s present-day story with past excursions into the region, wilderness history, and family secrets.
Bummer
by Janice Shapiro
Soft Skull Press
A clever and engaging collection of “darkly funny, sexy, and very smart” stories about women on the brink of disaster—and the edge of grace (Tom Perrotta). Janice Shapiro has a distinctly warm, earthy, and funny voice and a gift for writing about outsiders, artists, and free spirits.
Narrow Escapes
by Louise Nayer
Spuyten Duyvil Press
Haunted by a terrible accident and adrift in love, Louise Nayer takes the reader on a captivating journey filled with danger and romance, through Morocco and New York City and finally on a solo cross-country journey to California. Set in the early ’70s at a time of cataclysmic change in America, Narrow Escapes will resonate with all who need release from a difficult past as they search for joy and home.