Finding North: March 2026
An invitation to join something new... 💌
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 Red Star Rebels, The Isles of the Gods, Lady’s Knight, 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.
This month, I’m thinking, and writing, about the ways we protect our creativity — our selves, really — in this strange, busy, often confronting world. The ways we carve out a space for peace, for quiet, and for happiness.
Speaking of happiness, it’s been the most wonderful few weeks since Red Star Rebels came out. I met so many of you on tour, heard from so many of you who’ve read the book already, and filled both my heart and my cup… and tired myself out entirely. Now I’m back at my desk, tucked up in my little cottage at the bottom of the garden, and content to be here!
In this letter:
A new project: mail club
A writing update
A book recommendation
An event listing
A giveaway!
What I’ve Been Up To
Those of you who have been around for a while will know that there’s a particular beach I head to on writing retreat a few times a year. I go in my campervan, and spend my days writing, walking along the beach, dunking myself in the sea to reset my brain, and then repeating the process again.
I’m so lucky to be able to do this. I love the sea, I love the view, I love the quiet. But more than anything, what I love is shrinking the world down to just one place for a while, removing all the extra noise, the voices, the opinions and the demands. All I need to do is write, walk on the beach, make the meals I’ve already chosen for myself, and then do it again. In the silence, I can really listen. Not to what’s happening out there, but what’s happening on the inside.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how we can be creative in a world that is just constantly unprecedented. A world where politics demand our attention, and headlines warn we’re all about to be replaced by robots, and conflict is everywhere.
We should care about these things, of course. But I don’t think that’s a problem. I think for most of us — certainly for all of you reading this newsletter — finding time for quiet is actually what we need.
There’s a reason that going analogue is in vogue right now, even if a lot of the influencers talking about it are still filming themselves trying out their “offline” activities and posting them as content. I think a lot of us are sensing that although we need to engage with the world around us, we also need chances to pull on our own oxygen masks, to make a space for our own thoughts.
I’ve been thinking about ways to be offline, to be calm, and also about the fact that the creative community is one of my greatest sources of happiness. I’ve been thinking about the ways I’m a part of that community, and what I bring to it.
I do a lot of mentoring, and one of the most common questions I’m asked — whether by mentees, or by fellow authors wading through all this unprecedentedness (absolutely a word) alongside me, is how I manage to keep writing with — at least most of the time — serenity. How I maintain a balance that’s healthy and happy, how I find joy in my writing so many years into a career that most fall away from by now, how I find my centre, and hold it calmly.
I’ve spoken many times in this newsletter and elsewhere about how toxic I find the idea of artistic suffering. The notion that we have to stay up all night, work furiously, break our bodies, reduce ourselves to stressed-out zombies in order to create. I truly believe — and am more than twenty books into proving — that creativity can be a joyful and sustainable process.
I’ve been thinking about how to have this conversation on a larger scale, and about the need for quiet, and space, and I’ve come up with an idea that makes me equal parts excited, and nervous. I hope you’ll be excited about it too.
I’m going to start a mail club. The idea is that you sign up, and every month for a year, I send you a letter. You’ll open it somewhere quiet — maybe at home, maybe in a cafe with a notebook and pen and a luxurious hot drink. Maybe it’s before others wake up, or after they go to bed. Maybe it’s in your lunch break at work, having left your desk and found a nearby park. You’ll know what the right escape is for you.
Each letter will be an invitation to step away from it all and spend some time with your creativity. Thinking about who you are, and how you relate to it, and how you’d like to go forward. How you’ll hold your centre, when times are hard. These letters are for anyone who knows there’s something in them that they want to nurture.
Each envelope will contain a really beautifully designed letter, worksheets and prompts for reflection, a link to an audio version in case you’d like to listen, and something extra. Perhaps a bookmark, a card with a quote to remember, or a vintage photo to use in a creative exercise. I want to work with small businesses in creating the art I’ll use.
The letters will be themed around developing and living a joyful and sustainable creative life.
In short, if you like the letters and essays in this newsletter, then this one is probably for you. I’m imagining topics like:
filling your well
comparison with others
finding adventure in everyday life
defining your creative values
discovering your version of rest
At the end of the year together, you’ll have been on a journey — you’ll have a stronger internal compass: a sense of who you are, creatively, and the ideas you’ll come back to as you make your way through your work, and through life. You’ll know where and how to locate your calm, your balance, and the joy you find in creativity. You’ll have practical tools, as well — exercises you can run whenever you need, to remind yourself of the way you want to live. This is a story that only you can write.
I don’t want to overwhelm myself with production, so I’m going to cap the monthly intake, at least to start. If you’d like to join the waiting list and be offered first chance to sign up, you can do so here. I’m hoping to offer a discount to the club members who sign up in the first month.
If you have questions, please leave a comment, and I’ll do my best to answer. Some aspects, I don’t know much about yet. In terms of cost, I’m guessing it’ll be somewhere around $15 AUD a month, which is about $10.50 US at the moment, or £7.50 GBP. Postage will be included, worldwide. But maybe it’ll be a little more, or a little less. We’re in the early stages of figuring out the logistics — how much does paper weigh, how thick can an envelope be, what kind of lead time do particular artists need? I’m learning a lot! (It’s fun!)
In terms of timing, I’d like to get started in June, to post letters in July — but perhaps this will shift by a month or so. I’ll know for certain by the time I’m actually asking anyone to sign on.
As you can see, this is a work in progress — I want this project to be shaped by you, which is why there’s a field on the waiting list form to let me know what you’d like to get out of it. The whole project will also have a name by the time it launches properly. Suggestions welcome!
What I’m Writing
One of the questions I was asked most frequently on tour for Red Star Rebels is what I’m writing next, and whether I’m staying in space. The answer is a great big yes, and I’m working on a book code-named Relic right now. It’s not out until 2027, so I won’t get into details too early, but if you’re excited about Brendan Fraser returning for a new movie in the world of The Mummy, then do I have good news for you. Writing this book is such a joyful experience, and I love it!
In other writing news, I’m always juggling the publication of multiple international editions of my books, and I thought I’d give you a behind-the-scenes peek at this incredible cover just in from my publisher in Ukraine. There’s a dust jacket over it, but this peek underneath at the hardcover case of Aurora’s End took my breath away.
And of course, since it’s only just out, I’ll remind you that I’d be most obliged if you’d consider picking up a copy of Red Star Rebels, my novel I’m pitching as The Martian meets Die Hard.
All the links are here — and let me add as well that the audiobook is a full cast performance with sound effects and the works, from one of the producers of the Illuminae audiobooks. It sounds incredible!
🇺🇸 If you’re in the US, you can find all your links right here.
🇬🇧 If you’re in the UK, you can purchase from Waterstones, Amazon, Blackwell’s, Bookshop, Foyle’s, Hive, or WH Smith.
🇦🇺 If you’re in Australia, you can buy from Dymocks, Booktopia, Readings, Amazon or QBD.
And wherever you live, you can add it as to-read on Goodreads.
If you’ve already read Red Star Rebels, I’d be so grateful if you’d leave a review on the retail sites in your country. I can’t tell you what a difference it makes.
What I’ve Loved Lately
Right now I’m listening to Sir Patrick Stewart’s memoir, Making It So. Read by the author, it’s a slow (but not slow-paced) and thoughtful journey from his early childhood into his acting days. He has the most beautiful knack of taking you to somewhere else entirely. I’m only listening to it when I’m going for walks, so (my plan is working!) I’m going for an awful lot of walks right now.
News and Events
If you’re in New South Wales, I’ll be at Newcastle Writers Festival at the end of the month! You can find tickets to my in-conversation event here, and to my panel on romance across genre here. I would love to see you there!
If you’re in Melbourne, I’ll be in Sunshine on a sci-fi panel for the Brimbank Writers & Readers Festival on March 15th. You can book here.
Giveaway
This month’s giveaway is a set of bookmarks featuring Squad 312 from Aurora Rising. They’re joined together as one big sheet, so you can display them as art, or you can use the perforations to turn them into bookmarks you can use.
Open internationally! To win, just leave a comment telling me what you love about getting something (that isn’t a bill!) in the mail.
One answer will be randomly selected, and I’ll reply in a comment to let you know to check your email!
That’s it from me for this month. I’ll be back next month, checking in before I head off on a big road trip along the coast. I’ve got my fingers crossed I’ll be reporting that I’ve finished my draft of that new space book, but will I? Let’s find out together! And remember, you can sign up for the mail club waiting list here!
there's a neighborhood cat who greets me every time I get my mail!
I really love the fact that someone thought about me, be it another person or past me, it makes me realize someone cares