Note: The recording above is a reading of this newsletter — there’s no different content, and it’s not produced, so you’ll hear the occasional stumble, or sounds of daily life in the background. If you’re someone who needs or prefers to hear their news, then I hope it’s helpful.
Hi there! I’m Amie Kaufman, NYT and internationally bestselling author of The Isles of the Gods, Lady’s Knight, Illuminae, Aurora Rising, These Broken Stars, and many more. This newsletter is the place to learn about my latest releases or events, and to follow along behind the scenes as I find my way through writing, and through life.
Hi, my friends.
Summer is winding down here in Australia — I actually had to wear my coat the other day, and then the day after that I was trying to coax my poor garden through a scorching heatwave. The last few weeks of the season have been as fickle as ever! It’s been a lovely one, but I’m happy to be coming to you from the beginning of autumn, which promises to be just as great.
This month I’m here to share the gorgeous new cover for Lady’s Knight — I can’t wait to hear what you think! I’m also talking about how we pass on wisdom, and some amazing art, and of course we have an update on last month’s giveaway. Let’s get started!
In this letter:
Recent inspiration
Cover reveal for Lady’s Knight!
A video game rec
Fundraising update
A view of the author and her puppy, who wants to ooze in close and sleep on top of her whenever possible.
What I’ve Been Up To
I’m writing to you from my hotel room at Adelaide Writers Week (if you’re one of the new subscribers I met at my schools event, hi guys!) and it’s been a wonderful festival so far. While I’ve been here, I’ve managed to squeeze in quick trips to two amazing exhibitions.
The first was the Chihuly exhibit at the Botanic Gardens with one of my favourite people,
. Long-time followers will know that Dale Chihuly’s incredible glass sculptures were one of the first inspirations for the Aurora Cycle. Jay and I visited the Chihuly museum in Seattle when we were on tour, and saw these incredible, alien, plant-like sculptures, and knew we had to write about them.Getting to see them outdoors, surrounded by actual plants? Incredible. Inspiring. Giving me lots of ideas! (No, not Aurora ideas… new ones.)
The second place we visited was the Museum of Discovery, which has a wonderful exhibit at the moment on the passage of time — from how we grow, to how we age, what we learn, and what might become of us after we die. There were scents that invited you to inhale and time travel back to your childhood, surveys on how visitors wanted to be buried, an AI that asked you questions about your wishes for a digital afterlife, and everything in between.
One of my favourite parts was a sort of time-travel advice section. Anyone attending was welcome to ask a question — that’s their age noted beside it. And anyone was welcome to write out their answer. There was such wisdom on show, flowing from older to younger, and back again.
Do you have a question you’d love to ask? Leave it in the comments — maybe another newsletter reader will know the answer.
Lady’s Knight: Cover Reveal!
If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably scrolled straight to this bit of the newsletter to see the cover, and fair enough. So before I talk about it, here it is, in the UK and US versions!
Please, please don’t share this cover anywhere online until you see us do so on instagram. You’re seeing it ahead of the official reveal — I mean it when I promise you’ll always see things first!
Meg and I are absolutely in love with it. Back when we were talking about early ideas, our editors raised the idea of an oil painting, and showed us some work by our incredible artist, Elizabeth Wakou, and I don’t think either of us have ever replied to an email so fast. Elizabeth’s work is absolutely gorgeous, and for a book that’s all about challenging the patriarchy, it just felt so right to put these two queer young women into a type of art they’d have been almost completely excluded from.
There are so many little touches we love — that tea cup Isobelle’s holding is there for a reason! I talked in past letters about how important it is to lean into what you love, and this book is the perfect example of that — it’s fun and funny and full of heart because Meg and I packed it full of all the things that make us happiest. I’m just so, so happy to have a cover for it that feels as fun as the story is.
I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments — what grabs you about the cover?
Again, please don’t share this until you’ve seen us do so on instagram! When we do, there’ll be an ARC giveaway to join in on!
As always, I’ll take this opportunity to remind you to preorder — it’s the most concrete way you can support authors, as it shows publishers there’s excitement for a book. If you plan on reading the book, we’d love if you clicked one of these links, or requested it at your local library!
🇺🇸 You can preorder at Amazon or Barnes & Noble or Bookshop or Books-A-Million!
🇬🇧 You can preorder at Waterstones or Amazon or Blackwells or Bookshop or Foyles or Hive or WH Smith!
🇦🇺 You can preorder from Booktopia, or Amazon or Readings or QBD with more links to come!
📙 And finally, you can add the book on Goodreads right here. (This is, of course, free, and really helps signal your interest!)
What I’ve Loved Lately
As some of you know, I also do some video game writing in my spare time, and right now I’m doing some work on a truly amazing project — though unfortunately my NDA means I’m not going to be able to talk about it for quite a while!
I’ve been re-playing The Outer Worlds in my spare time, because I have video games on the brain — if you haven’t tried it, I’d definitely recommend. And if you’re hopeless at fighting things (like me) then there’s a story mode that does make it much easier! The visuals are beautiful, the humour is great, and the individual vs corporation theme is (as you’ll know if you’ve read my stuff) right up my alley!
Giveaway Update
First of all, a HUGE thank you to everyone who donated to last month’s fundraiser. We raised just under $2,000, which absolutely blew me away, and left my beautiful friend Marion speechless. You’ve all made a huge difference. Thank you.
Because (as my friends will tell you) my mum is actually everyone’s mum, she also made a donation and split the entries she earned across all of you, so everyone got an extra couple of entries to their name. She said to tell you all that she thinks you’re wonderful.
I’ve left a comment for and got in touch with the winner, who’ll receive their copy of Memento, some swag from my personal collection, and a bunch of amazing gear from Maz as well — she works at Rip Curl, and was so amazed by you all that she rounded up a few treats to pop into the prize pool.
I’ll be back next month with a giveaway for an advance reader copy of Lady’s Knight, so make sure you check in then!
That’s it for now — next time I’ll be back with tour dates for Aussies, and some tantalising hints for those of you in the USA! In the meantime, I’d love to hear what you think of the cover!
Share this post