Karen Russell, author portrait
© Dan Hawk

Karen Russell

Karen Russell is the author of five books of fiction, including the NYT bestsellers Swamplandia! and Vampires in the Lemon Grove. She is a MacArthur Fellow and a Guggenheim Fellow, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, the recipient of two National Magazine Awards for Fiction, the NYPL's Young Lions Award, the National Book Foundation's 5 under 35 award, the Shirley Jackson Award, the 2023 Bottari Lattes Grinzane prize, the 2024 Mary McCarthy Award, among other honors. With composer Ellis Ludwig-Leone and choreographer and director Troy Schumacher, she co-created The Night Falls, listed as one of the NYT's Best Dance Performances of 2023. She has taught literature and creative writing as a visiting professor at the Iowa Writers' Workshop, the University of California-Irvine, Williams College, Columbia University, and Bryn Mawr College, and served as the Endowed Chair of Texas State’s MFA program. She serves on the board of Street Books, a mobile-library that creates a community of support for unhoused Portlanders. Born and raised in Miami, FL, she now lives in Portland, OR with her husband, son, and daughter.

Books

Celebrating 100 years of James Baldwin

In celebration of James Baldwin, the literary legend and civil rights champion, and the centennial of his birth, we are sharing a collection of his work.   James Baldwin (1924–1987) was a novelist, essayist, playwright, poet, and social critic. His first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain, appeared in 1953 to excellent reviews, and his essay collections Notes

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The New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century

The New York Times recently published their list “100 Best Books of the 21st Century.” We are pleased to announce that there are 49 titles published from Penguin Random House and its distribution clients included in this list. Browse our collection of Penguin Random House titles here. Browse the full list from The New York

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