My novel State Champ is coming out May 13. I’ve mentioned it but seems like the moment to say a little more. It’s about protest, abortion, being a bad employee, bodily autonomy, misogyny, jokes, running, healthcare, work, freedom.
If you’re in New York: I’ll be at Books Are Magic (122 Montague Ave) on May 14 with the incredible writer Eugene Lim. Info on joining in-person here and via livestream here. On May 21 I’ll be reading in Cleveland and a bit later I’ll be touring around with Zach Savich, Alyssa Perry, and Justin Cox. Details below.
Many of you were essential to the writing and thinking that built this novel and probably also lent jokes and stories. Some writers I deeply admire lent their words, below. Huge thanks to agent Nora Gonzalez, editor Callie Garnett, and everyone at Bloomsbury. Honored to work with you all. And thanks to the beautiful independent bookstore people who have welcomed this book. <3
“Plum’s explosive and hilarious new political novel forges a vision of our own moment in American history that will go far in explaining the insanity of now to the future. State Champ’s solitary, howling voice slashes deep down into America’s naked, troubled heart. A vivid, mind-blowing and soulful book.”
—Robin McLean
“Where's the red line, sheeple? State Champ knows. A defiant punk voice, fucked up and bristling from defeats, growls her barbed protest song, so vivid and direct you can't tell when its ragged refusals transform into the limpid melodic rill of exit music and fight song. Hilary Plum has composed an athletic, poised, and complex fury, knowing of the body and leavened with foils, to remind us how to take a stand.”
—Eugene Lim
“An acrobatic, harrowing marathon of cut-to-the-quick prose, with a narrator who’s ferocious, funny, and wise. State Champ churns with tremendous urgency that would be, and will be, vital in any era. Hilary Plum is a breathtaking talent.”
—Henry Hoke
“Oh, this voice! Ferocious, hilarious, slippery, wise—I couldn’t stop listening. Hilary Plum is one of my favorite writers working today because her curiosity about injustice and liberation is so relentless, so tender, and so alert to the fact that every single one of us is implicated in the struggle.”
—Leni Zumas
“State Champ comes at you with a furious and feral intelligence, ninja slacker wit, and a reckless hope that blasts through the dim fug of contemporary politics. Hilary Plum's latest novel is a hardcore, pitch-perfect, breakout banger with a heart as big as the world, from one of our finest unsung talents. Compulsively readable.”
—Roy Scranton
“Hilary Plum’s State Champ is somehow simultaneously a searing portrait of political & personal desperation, a deep anti-hagiographical investigation into how to be a person in our contemporary fascist state, and a relentlessly funny bildungsroman for the rest of us. Every time I put this book down briefly, someone else picked it up and refused to give it back until they finished, because once you start, you can’t stop. You’re next.”
—Andrea Lawlor
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May 21, Cleveland: Plum City Reading Series, hosted by Literary Cleveland. With Ali Black and Denne Michele Norris. Loganberry Books (13015 Larchmere in Cleveland OH), 7 pm.
May 26, Buffalo: With Zach Savich, Alyssa Perry, and Justin Cox. Fitz Books (431 Ellicott Street, Buffalo NY), 7 pm.
May 27, Ithaca: With Zach Savich, Alyssa Perry, and Justin Cox. Buffalo Street Books (215 N. Cayuga St, Ithaca NY), 5 pm.
May 30, Turners Falls: With Zach Savich, Alyssa Perry, and Justin Cox. Unnameable Books (66 Avenue A, Turners Falls MA), 7 pm.
June 2, Kingston: With Zach Savich, Alyssa Perry, and Justin Cox. Hosted by Dogpark (Louw-Bogardus Ruin & Frog Alley Park, Kingston NY), doors 7, reading 7:45 pm.