Beth March Returns From the Dead by Emily St. James
Coming March 30, 2027
From the “dazzling” author of Woodworking (VOGUE) comes another millennial cult classic: a Little Women–inspired novel that turns expectations on their head and celebrates the power of love to defy definition.
Beth March is the third of four sisters. Well, she was supposed to be the only son in a family of girls, but to everyone’s surprise, she came out as trans in college. Dead to her family, she took the name because, well, Beth March dies, right?
But now she’s home for Christmas for the first time in a decade, hoping the holiday season offers a chance for her and her family to heal the wounds they’ve plastered over. Beth has changed. Her family has changed. But her hometown of Duluth, Minnesota, hasn’t. Including, it seems, Tom Vega, the boy next door who broke her heart back when he couldn’t face his own queerness.
But when Beth and Tom bump into each other again, sparks fly. Immediately. And as they circle each other, getting ever closer and ever more scared, both must ask themselves what they’d be giving up by disappearing into heterosexuality—and whether they’d be betraying their communities in doing so.
— Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, & Tommy Vietor, Crooked Media Reads
Reading: it’s not just for tweets anymore.
Across the board, Crooked Media Reads explores politics, current events and activism, narratives on culture and policy, memoir, pop culture, history, and investigative journalism from a wide and diverse range of perspectives, and in more than 240 characters. Our imprint is actively acquiring both nonfiction and fiction as well as books for children and young readers and expects to announce more titles soon.
When We're In Charge by Amanda Litman
Coming Soon in Paperback
Thrilled to announce the newest acquisition for Crooked Media Reads, Amanda Litman’s guidebook to leadership for the next generation. Acknowledging that millennials and zoomers are already stepping into power and leading differently, Litman’s book—both prescriptive and a manifesto—will teach readers how to put their values into action as they take charge both at work and outside of it. Litman is co-founder and co-executive director of Run for Something, a political organization that recruits and supports young, diverse progressive candidates running for local office.
Woodworking by Emily St. James
OUT NOW IN PAPERBACK
A trans high school teacher in South Dakota befriends the only other trans woman she knows: one of her students.
Anointed best book of the year by NPR, Vox, ELLE, Bustle, Brooklyn Public Library, Chicago Public Library, Marie Claire, Them, and more, Woodworking is a tonic for the moment. This novel is a tender, funny, and deeply human: a moving story about identity, friendship, and what happens when you finally let yourself be seen.
Democracy or Else: How to Save America in 10 Easy Steps
OUT NOW
From Crooked’s founders and the hosts of Pod Save America, Democracy or Else is the New York Times bestselling useful and illustrated guide to saving American democracy, getting off the sidelines and joining the fight.
Crooked is donating its profits from Democracy or Else to support Vote Save America, its partners, and other organizations who are mobilizing for progressive outcomes in the 2024 election and beyond.
Mobility by Lydia Kiesling
NOW AVAILABLE IN PAPERBACK
A propulsive novel about class, power, politics, and desire by the celebrated author of The Golden State.
The year is 1998, the End of History. The Soviet Union is dissolved, the Cold War is over, and Bunny Glenn is an American teenager in Azerbaijan living with her Foreign Service family. Through Bunny’s eyes, we watch global interests flock to the former Soviet Union during the rush for Caspian oil and pipeline access, and hear rumbles of the expansion of the American security state and the buildup to the War on Terror. Both geopolitical exploration and domestic coming-of-age novel, Mobility is a propulsive and challenging story about class, power, politics, and desire told through the life of one woman—her social milieu, her romances, her unarticulated wants. Mobility deftly explores American forms of complicity and inertia, moving between the local and the global, the personal and the political, and using fiction’s power to illuminate the way a life is shaped by its context.
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About Zando
Launched October 2020, Zando is an independent publisher that leverages the influence of high-profile cultural figures, platforms and institutions to launch imprints. Founder and CEO Molly Stern has published multiple award-winning, genre-defining bestsellers, including Becoming by Michelle Obama, Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, and Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Zando is founded on her belief in the essential value of books, the enduring influence of great stories and powerful ideas, and the need for literary diversity.
