A.S. King

A.S. King writes books specifically aimed at teens nearing the end of high school and those going through the first couple years of the college experience. Her award-winning work has also developed a huge adult following.

While many younger readers are devouring books from the Young Adult shelf, usually in the fantasy or paranormal genre, the subject matter in King's work is not light fare. She has set out to start a conversation with those on the brink of adulthood and those who are mired inside of it--a conversation about everything. From bullying, unsafe relationships, parenting, working, substance abuse, death, sexuality and mental illness in families to historical and social subjects like Cromwell's Irish genocide, the Vietnam War draft lotteries and Greek philosophy, King weaves metaphors between teens and adults and between history and modern culture in an attempt to gain better understanding between generations.

King’s next release, Reality Boy, (October, 2013) is a fearless portrayal of a boy on the edge. Title character Gerald Faust knows exactly when he started feeling angry: the day his mother invited a reality TV crew into his five-year-old life. Twelve years later, he is still haunted by his rage-filled youth--which the entire world got to watch from every imaginable angle--and his anger issues have resulted in violent outbursts, zero friends, and clueless adults dumping him in the special education room at school. In Reality Boy, King explores the desperate reality of a former child star struggling to break free of his anger and his subsequent choice to avoid snapping by creating possibilities for himself that he never knew he deserved.

Following Reality Boy, another new release is slated for 2014. Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future delves into the life of a graduating senior struggling with growing apart from her two best friends as all three of them begin having strange and powerful visions of divergent, infinite futures.

King’s past books include Ask the Passengers, Everybody Sees the Ants and the 2011 Michael L. Printz Honor Book Please Ignore Vera Dietz. Her short fiction for adults has been widely published and nominated for Best New American Voices. She has been a Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist, an Edgar Allen Poe Award nominee, a Nebula nominee, a Lambda Literary Award nominee and a YALSA top ten pick.

King holds a degree in photography from the Art Institute of Philadelphia and resides in in Pennsylvania with her husband and children. King’s real-life personal experiences are as colorful as the characters she creates. She spent fifteen years living self-sufficiently and teaching literacy to adults in Ireland. Her past professional endeavors include working as a rare poultry breeder, photographer, master printer, contractor, summer camp counselor and pizza delivery driver and at one point, even running away with the circus.