Finding North: October 2024

New book announcement inside! 🐉⚔️

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.

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Hi there! I’m Amie Kaufman, NYT and internationally bestselling author of The Isles of the Gods, Illuminae, Aurora Rising, These Broken Stars, and many more books besides. 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.

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Hi, my friends.

Well, I’m back from tour, and writing to you through a considerable amount of jet lag, but here we go! It’s lovely to be home, even if it’s only for a few days, so with my puppy under my feet and a toppling pile of books asking to go into my suitcase for my next trip, let’s get started.

This month I want to talk about tour, the process of outlining a novel, and… tell you about my next book!

In this letter:

• What I’ve been up to

• New book news!

• What I’ve loved lately

• Upcoming events

A very tired, but very happy me at the first event of tour — still mentally changing timezones, but loving every second.

What I’ve Been Up To

I have to start by talking about tour, because my heart filled up to overflowing every night I got to spend with readers. This was my twelfth tour (or more, depending on how you count them) and whatever nerves I harboured many years ago have long since evaporated.

Now, I look forward to this time so, so much. Writing is a solitary endeavour, and over the last few years of lockdowns, it’s been such a strange feeling, sending my books out into the wild on their own.

I published six books into the pandemic, and although I knew, intellectually, that readers were picking them up and enjoying them, I’m not sure my body really knew. My body is very much a part of my storytelling — so much of what I write, I feel.

So, this tour, I took the opportunity to revel in the company of generous booksellers, smart and sparkling host authors, and the chance to spend time with readers, laughing, talking books, sharing memories.

Below, clockwise from top left, the lovely readers of Roseville, the backlist brigade (who attended every stop, and in numbers!), one of the many IOUs left at Jay’s tour stops that I filled out, and a couple of the gifts I received from readers.

For those who couldn’t make it to a tour event, I want to remind you that we published a virtual launch episode on the Pub Dates podcast, where you can listen to just the same sort of in-conversation you’d hear at a bookshop event.

After tour, I headed to a beautiful cabin among the redwoods in California, where I holed up with my longtime partner-in-crime, Meagan Spooner, to outline a new book. What does this look like? Picture note cards tacked up everywhere.

We spent long hours straining our brains, coming up with layer upon layer of story, then digging deeper to find yet another layer, jotting down jokes, googling extremely weird things — and taking breaks.

I’ve talked in the past about refilling your well, and with so much thinking going on, it was important that Meg and I found ways to rest and refresh before each new round. There’s no value in having an incredibly productive two days, if you burn yourself out for the rest of the week.

Here’s some of the ways we recharged, clockwise from top left: Looking up at the redwoods, visiting the famous Monterey aquarium, a whale watching trip, and a drive down the Pacific Coast Highway. It was perhaps the most productive week of my life, and so utterly enjoyable in every way.

What I’m Writing

I’ve been talking about the mysterious Project LK for a while now, and today I finally get to tell you about it!

I’m so excited to announce Lady’s Knight — a medieval sapphic fantasy, co-authored with Meagan Spooner! It’s coming in June 2025!

For all the details, you can check out the latest issue of my joint newsletter with Meg (and I would really encourage you to do so!) — for now I’m going to drop a few of my favourite graphics, a description of the book, and of course a few of the obligatory preorder links. You’re hearing this news ahead of the rest of the world, so please keep it under your knightly visors until you see it posted on my instagram!

Prepare yourselves for a story where there are crocodiles in the castle moat, cheerleaders on the tournament grounds, and training montages with 80s backing tracks. There are witches, cocktails, thatched roofs, makeovers, side quests, haylofts, brilliantly colored gowns, sword fights, dungeon rescues, bonfires, ballrooms, and, of course, a copious amount of snacks.

An undeniably fierce, unforgettably funny, unapologetically queer feminist romp through the England of medieval legend. Bestselling and acclaimed authors Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner bring readers along on an epic quest for valor, freedom, and, above all, love. A Knight’s Tale meets the Lady Jane series, with a dash of The Great!

Gwen is sick of hiding—hiding the fact that she’s taken over her father’s blacksmithing duties, hiding her attraction to girls, hiding her yearning for glory as a knight.

Meanwhile, Lady Isobelle of Avington, queen bee of the castle, has never once considered hiding who she is—until now. She’s been chosen as the grand prize in the Tournament of Dragonslayers, to be given to whichever knight can claim her hand. And for the first time in her life, she can’t talk her way out of trouble.

When Isobelle discovers Gwen’s knightly ambitions, they hatch a scheme together—Gwen will joust in the tournament, disguised as Sir Gawain. Winning means freedom for Isobelle, and glory for Gwen. Losing means… well, let’s not go there.

One thing’s for sure: Falling in love was never the plan.

But the best laid plans…are often trampled all over by dragons.

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Lady’s Knight will be coming out in the US with HarperTeen, in the UK with Electric Monkey, and in Australia with Allen & Unwin, with announcements about other international markets to come.

🇺🇸 You can preorder at Amazon or Barnes & Noble, with more links to come!

🇬🇧 You can preorder at Waterstones or Amazon, with more links to come!

🇦🇺 The Aussie system works on a different timeline, so no links yet, but you’ll hear all about them when they arrive!

📙 And finally, you can add the book on Goodreads right here.

I’ve never had more fun writing a book, and I can’t wait to tell you more about it over the next few months.

What I’ve Loved Lately

While on retreat with Meg to outline Lady’s Knight book two (yes, we write that far ahead!) we had a brilliant movie night with this gem, Polite Society. It stars Priya Kansara (who you might recognise from Bridgerton) as a high school student who’s set on becoming a stuntwoman — but has to pause that dream to rescue her big sister, who’s trying to meet parental expectations, and is about to marry a guy she hardly knows. It’s fast and funny and full of action, and I recommend it for a fun and feminist night in. For us, it was full of Lady’s Knight vibes!

News and Events

Brisbane, I’ll be at the Book Links StoryArts Conference on Oct 19-20th (and on October 18th I’ll be keynoting at the Queensland School Library Association’s conference, but you have to be a librarian to sneak into that one.)

Melbourne, I’ll be hosting an in-conversation with Patrick Ness at the Wheeler Centre on November 15th.

That’s it for this month — I’ll see you next month to report in on my travels to Bali, and bring you a new giveaway. Until then, please join me in cheering that I’m finally able to share the news about Lady’s Knight!

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