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Amy Sarig King (born March 10, 1970) is an American writer of short fiction and young adult fiction. She is the recipient of the 2022 Margaret Edwards Award for her "significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature".[1] She is also the only two-time recipient of the Michael L. Printz Award for Young Adult Literature for Dig (2019) and as editor and contributor to The Collectors: Stories (2023).

A. S. King
King in her office in Pennsylvania
King in her office in Pennsylvania
Born (1970-03-10) March 10, 1970 (age 54)
Reading, Pennsylvania, U.S.
OccupationWriter
GenreYoung-adult novels and short fiction
Notable worksAsk the Passengers
Notable awardsMichael L. Printz Award Honor 2011
Los Angeles Times Book Prize 2012
Michael L. Printz Award Winner 2020
Margaret A. Edwards Award 2022
Michael L. Printz Award Winner 2024

Biography

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King was born March 10, 1970, in Reading, Pennsylvania.[2] She graduated from Exeter Township Senior High School in 1988,[3] earned a degree in photography at The Art Institute of Philadelphia, and then moved to Dublin, Ireland, where she began writing novels in 1994. After two years in Dublin, she relocated to Tipperary, where she renovated a farm and taught literacy to adults.[4] She returned to Pennsylvania in 2004 and published her first novel, The Dust of 100 Dogs, in 2009, after fifteen years of writing.

Career

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King is the author of numerous young adult books that have earned her recognition as "one of the best YA writers working today" by The New York Times Book Review. Her work is known for bridging the gap between young adult and adult readers.[4] She also writes acclaimed middle grade novels under her full name, Amy Sarig King. Her short fiction for adults has been widely published and nominated for Best New American Voices.[4]

Teaching, presentations, and philanthropy

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King is a former faculty member of the Writing for Children and Young Adults Master of Fine Arts program at Vermont College of Fine Arts.[4] An experienced teacher and presenter, King spends many months of the year traveling the U.S. for school visits, conferences, workshops, and literary festivals.[5] King devotes much of her time and platform to mental health advocacy. In her presentations, she often centers topics such as life skills, emotions, bullying, self-esteem, safe relationships, and trauma.[6]

In 2024, King announced the founding of Gracie's House, a nonprofit cofounded with her 17-year-old son Jaxon, which plans to provide safe space summer camps for LGBTQ youth as well as other offerings for the community.[7] The organization is named after King's daughter Gracie, who died from suicide at 16 years old in 2018.[7]

Awards and honors

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In 2015, King was named the "Outstanding Pennsylvania Author" for that year by the Pennsylvania School Librarians Associations; all of her novels are set in the state.[8] In 2022, she won the American Library Association's Margaret Edwards Award,[9][10] which recognizes an author and "a specific body of his or her work, for significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature". In 2024, King was awarded the YALSA's Michael L. Printz Award,[11] for the anthology The Collectors: Stories — the first time an anthology has won the award and the first time an author has won the award twice.

Awards and honors for individual books are listed below.

The Dust of 100 Dogs

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Awards for The Dust of 100 Dogs
Year Award Result Ref.
2009 Cybils Award for Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction Finalist [12]
2010 ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults Selection [13]

Please Ignore Vera Dietz

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Please Ignore Vera Dietz is a Junior Library Guild book.[14] Kirkus Reviews named the book one of the best books for teens in 2010,[14] and Bank Street College of Education included it on their list of the Best Books of 2011 for Ages 14 and Up.[15]

Awards for Please Ignore Vera Dietz
Year Award Result Ref.
2010 Cybils Award for Young Adult Fantasy/Science Fiction Nominee [16]
2011 ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults Selection [17]
2011 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Young Adult Novel Finalist [14][18]
2011 Michael L. Printz Award Honor [19][20][21]

Monica Never Shuts Up

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Monica Never Shuts Up was nominated for 2010 Best New American Voices, Short Fiction.[citation needed]

Everybody Sees the Ants

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Everybody Sees the Ants is a Junior Library Guild book.[22]

Awards for Everybody Sees the Ants
Year Award Result Ref.
2011 Andre Norton Award Finalist [23]
2011 Cybils Award for Young Adult Fiction Finalist [24]
2012 ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults Top 10 [25]

Ask the Passengers

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Ask the Passengers is a Junior Library Guild book.[26] The book was named one of the best young adult books of the year by Kirkus Reviews[27] and Publishers Weekly.[28] Andrew Harwell of HarperCollins Children's Books also favorited Ask the Passengers for 2013, stating,

To my mind, King falls in a camp with George Saunders as a writer who flouts conventions of genre and structure out of a sense that the world is full of meaning, but it is also totally crazy. King's books repeatedly stretch the boundaries of YA fiction, and are always grounded by their unflinching looks at real, imperfect families. So while I would be hard-pressed to say which of her books was my favorite read in 2013, it would definitely be one of them, and I think that says it all.[29]

Awards for Ask the Passenger
Year Award Result Ref.
2012 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Novel Winner [30][31]
2013 ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults Selection [32]
2013 ALA Rainbow Book List Top 10 [33]
2013 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Finalist [34]
2013 Lambda Literary Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature Finalist [35]
2013 Carolyn W. Field Award Winner [36]

Reality Boy

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Reality Boy is a Junior Library Guild book.[37] Kirkus Reviews[38] and Publishers Weekly[39] named it one of the best books of the year. In 2014, the American Library Association selected it for their "Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers" list.[40]

Glory O'Brien's History of the Future

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Glory O'Brien's History of the Future is a Junior Library Guild book.[41] The Boston Globe,[42] Bustle,[43] Kirkus Reviews,[44] the Los Angeles Public Library,[41] the New York Public Library,[45] Publishers Weekly,[46] and School Library Journal[47] named it one of the best young adult books of 2014. It was also named a New York Times Editor's Choice and Booklist Editors' Choice book.

Awards for Glory O'Brien's History of the Future
Year Award Result Ref.
2014 Cybils Award for Young Adult Speculative Fiction Finalist [48]
2015 Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults Top 10 [49]
2015 Andre Norton Award Finalist [50]
2015 Amelia Bloomer Book List Selection [51]
2015 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Winner [34]
2015 NAIBA Book of the Year: Children's Literature Winner [52]

I Crawl Through It

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I Crawl Through It is a Junior Library Guild book.[53] Booklist,[54] The Horn Book Magazine,[55][56] and VOYA[53] named it one of the best novels of the year.

Still Life with Tornado

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Both the book and audiobook versions of Still Life with Tornado are Junior Library Guild selections.[57][58] The New York Times,[57] Publishers Weekly,[59] School Library Journal,[57] Shelf Awareness[60] named it one of the best young adult novels of the year.

Awards for Still Life with Tornado
Year Award Result Ref.
2016 Booklist Editors' Choice: Books for Youth Selection [61]
2016 Cybils Awards Finalist [62]
2017 ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults Selection [63]
2017 NAIBA Best Book – Young Adult Literature Winner [64][65]

Me and Marvin Gardens

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The Washington Post[66] and Chicago Public Library[67] named Me and Marvin Gardens one of the best books of the year. It is a 2018-2019 Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List selection,[68] 2018-2019 Pennsylvania Young Readers Choice Awards nominee,[69] and 2019 Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award nominee.[70]

In 2019, The Horn Book Magazine named Dig one of the best novels of the year,[55] as did School Library Journal.[71]

Awards for Dig
Year Award Result Ref.
2020 Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults Top 10 [72][73]
2020 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Finalist [74]
2020 Michael L. Printz Award Winner [19][75][21]

The Year We Fell from Space

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The Year We Fell from Space is a Junior Library Guild book.[76]

In 2019, The Horn Book Magazine named it one of the best novels of the year,[55] as didThe Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books.[77] The American Library Association also included in on their 2020 Notable Children's Books list.[78]

Switch

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BookPage[79] and the Chicago Public Library[80] named Switch one of the best young adult books of 2021. The Young Adult Library Services Association included it on their 2022 list of the Best Fiction for Young Adults.[81]

The Collectors: Stories

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King became the only second person to win the Michael L. Printz award with The Collectors: Stories, an anthology she edited and contributed to.[82] The award is shared with M. T. Anderson, E.E. Charlton-Trujillo, David Levithan, Cory McCarthy, Anna-Marie McLemore, Greg Neri, Jason Reynolds, Randy Ribay, and Jenny Torres Sanchez.

Awards for The Collectors
Year Award Result Ref.
2024 Michael L. Printz Award Winner [19][83][21]

Works

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  • The Dust of 100 Dogs (2009, Flux)
  • Please Ignore Vera Dietz (2010, Knopf)
  • Everybody Sees the Ants (Oct. 2011, Little, Brown)
  • Ask the Passengers (Oct. 2012, Little, Brown)
  • Monica Never Shuts Up (Dec. 2012, The Bat Press)
  • Reality Boy (Fall 2013, Little, Brown)
  • Glory O'Brien's History of the Future (October 2014, Little, Brown)
  • I Crawl Through It (Sept. 2015, Little, Brown)
  • Still Life with Tornado (Fall 2016, Dutton Children's Books)
  • Me And Marvin Gardens (2017, Arthur A. Levine Books)
  • Dig (March 26, 2019, Dutton Children's Books)
  • The Year We Fell From Space (October 2019, Arthur A. Levine Books)
  • Switch (May 2021, Dutton Children's Books)
  • Attack of the Black Rectangles (Scholastic Press, 2022)
  • Pick the Lock (2024, Dutton)

Anthology Contributions

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  • Dear Bully: 70 Authors Tell Their Stories (Sep. 2011, HarperTeen)
  • Break These Rules: 35 YA Authors on Speaking Up, Standing Out, and Being Yourself (Sep. 2013, Chicago Review Press)
  • Losing It (2013, Carolrhoda LAB)
  • One Death, Nine Stories (2014, Candlewick)
  • Tasting Light: Ten Science Fiction Stories to Rewire Your Perceptions (2023, MITeen Press)
  • The Collectors: Stories (2023, Dutton)

References

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  1. ^ Jensen, Karen; Jensen, Riley (June 1, 2022). "Truth Teller: A Conversation with Margaret A. Edwards Award Winner A.S. King". School Library Journal. Archived from the original on September 20, 2022. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
  2. ^ "One Thing Leads to Another: An Interview with A.S. King". Young Adult Library Services Association. January 30, 2014. Archived from the original on October 4, 2022. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
  3. ^ "Berks native A.S. King (1988) wins Printz Award for YA novel "Dig"". Exeter Township School District. February 2, 2020. Archived from the original on March 20, 2023. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d "Amy King". Vermont College of Fine Arts. Archived from the original on September 20, 2022. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
  5. ^ "About". A.S. King. Archived from the original on September 20, 2022. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
  6. ^ "Visits & Presentations". A.S. King. Archived from the original on September 20, 2022. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
  7. ^ a b op de Beeck, Nathalie (September 26, 2024). "A.S. King Builds Gracie's House, an Inclusive Nonprofit". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved September 26, 2024.
  8. ^ "Previous Winners - Outstanding PA Authors + Illustrators". Pennsylvania School Librarians Associations. Archived from the original on March 20, 2023. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
  9. ^ "2022 Edwards Award". Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). January 30, 2023. Archived from the original on March 20, 2023. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
  10. ^ Communications and Marketing Office (January 24, 2022). "A.S. King wins 2022 Edwards Award for Ask the Passengers, Glory O'Brien's History of the Future, and Please Ignore Vera Dietz". American Library Association. Archived from the original on June 4, 2022. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
  11. ^ "2024 Printz Award". September 28, 2023. Archived from the original on September 28, 2023.
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