"Julianna Baggott enjoys living on the knife edge between hilarity and heartbreak and that makes her a writer after my own heart."
- Richard Russo, winner of the Pulitzer Prize
In August, Julianna will publish a new novel, MY HUSBAND'S SWEETHEARTS,
under the not-so-secret pen name Bridget Asher. Already a Doubleday Book Club selection
and a Featured Alternate of Literary Guild and with ten overseas editions forthcoming, the novel is garnering pre-pub attention. Here are...
SOME EARLY TAKES:
"... rendered with humor and heart."
-- People
"... a laugh-and-cry novel whose plot includes equal portions of heartache and hope."
-- The Chicago Tribune
"Asher creates an unconventional family—one brought together by a flawed but lovable man and kept together by a wounded but openhearted woman. As each character’s individual story is revealed, the reader is further enveloped by this humorous yet touching tale."
-- Booklist
"... a parade of memorable women keep pages turning..."
-- Publishers Weekly
"Bridget Asher's pitch perfect ear for language, sly wit, and compassionate understanding of what
it is to be human and fallible made this novel an undiluted joy to read. MY HUSBAND'S SWEETHEARTS
is a whip-smart, tender, and eccentric tale that chronicles all the ways forgiveness can come to us;
don't miss this ride."
-- Joshilyn Jackson, Bestselling Author of Gods of Alabama; Between, Georgia,
and The Girl Who Stopped Swimming
"Each character in this wry and beguiling book has a fresh take on love: how it tricks and blindsides us,
makes us crazy, elated, sad; how we can't stop giving it; how it ennobles our lives.
As Lucy and her husband's sweethearts reluctantly form a family as unlikely as it is beautiful,
I found myself falling -- falling hard -- for every single one of them."
-- Marisa de los Santos,
New York Times Bestselling Author of Love Walked In and Belong to Me
GOOD WRITERLY NOURISHMENT: Try THE SOUTHEAST REVIEW'S 30-Day Writing Regimens - for all ages. Click here for
more information.
GOOD SOULFUL WORK: Help get free books and author visits to kids in need. Visit: BooksinDeed.org.
Julianna, under the pen name N.E. Bode, has written the prequel novel to the film Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium, starring Dustin Hoffman, Natalie Portman, and Jason Batemam. To see the trailer, click here.
Julianna's third book of poems COMPULSIONS OF SILKWORMS AND BEES - winner of the 2005-06 Lena-Miles Wever Todd Poetry Series -
is now available - Pleiades Press, distributed by LSU Press in 2007. To request a TEACHER'S GUIDE, click
HERE."...[a] bouyant tour-de-force ..." - Susan Ludvigson
"Part primer, part credo, part arm-swinging gambol, this wonderful book is resonant with wit and insight." - Linda Bierds
"...hums with attention to the act of creation. These poems are like watches that show their inner workings..." - Matthea Harvey
WHICH BRINGS ME TO YOU: A NOVEL
IN CONFESSIONS, co-written with Steve Almond, is now out in the world. Here are some of the nicer things people are saying. For the snarkier variety, you'll have to do your own digging.
A Best Book of 2006 - KIRKUS REVIEWS
"... terrifically engaging." - ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
"... there's cumulative power in this probing of heartaches." - PEOPLE MAGAZINE
"Sexy, funny, and touching...A winner." - KIRKUS, starred review
"...piercing, funny, and emotional." - LIBRARY JOURNAL, starred review
"Sharp humor and insights into the modern psyche ... " - PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"Coauthored by pop culture darlings...a poignant and meaningful read." - BOOKLIST
"...sure to be the most insightful and intelligently written novel you've read in quite some time." - BOOKPAGE
"...page-turning reading." - NPR, Here and Now, Robin Young
"...enormously satisfying." - MSNBC
* Read Almond's cheeky piece in Poets & Writers -- The Joy of Collaboration: A Ten-Point I-Told-You-So Guide or listen to a recent NPR interview.
Julianna's book of poems LIZZIE BORDEN IN LOVE: POEMS IN WOMEN'S VOICES was Crab Orchard's Editors Selection for 2006, published by Southern Illinois University Press.
The collection gives voice to the "muted and misrepresented" voices of women, from Camille Claudel
and Helen Keller to Katharine Hepburn and Monica Lewinsky."...Baggott amazes with the scope of her imagination...a dangerous and elegant collection from one of America's finest young poets."- Beth Ann Fennelly
"...a brilliant book and an essential read for both lovers of poetry and scholars wishing to understand the inheritance of silence that is the complicated birthright of contemporary women artists everywhere." - Erin Belieu
To see the Pinsky vs Baggott Poetry Boxing Match, go to Quickmuse.com.
Looking for a good book to buy a book for an imaginative kid? (And what kind of a heartless punk isn't?)
Check out Julianna's new book in the voice of N.E. Bode,
The Slippery Map! And... keep your ears perked at XMKids on XMRadio for regular dispatches from N.E. Bode. For audio snippets and freebies galore, visit
www.theanybodies.com. "Potter-style magic mixed with Snickety irreverence ..." People Magazine
OVERVIEW:
Julianna Baggott is the author of four novels -- including national
bestseller Girl Talk, The Miss America Family, The Madam, and Which
Brings Me to You, co-written with Steve Almond, as well as three books of poems,
including This Country of Mothers, Lizzie Borden in Love, and
Compulsions of Silkworms and Bees. Her fifth novel, My Husband's Sweethearts, will be published
this August by Random House's Bantam Dell imprint, under the pen name Bridget Asher.
She also writes novels for younger readers under the pen name N.E. Bode -- The Anybodies trilogy,
The Slippery Map (fall 2007), the prequel to Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (2007),
a movie starring Dustin Hoffman, Natalie Portman, and Jason Bateman; and a Red Sox novel The
Prince of Fenway Park (March 2009). Bode is a recurring personality on XM Radio - XM Kids.
Her work has appeared in dozens of publications, including the Best American Poetry series,
Glamour, Ms., Poetry, The Southern Review, TriQuarterly, and read on NPR's Here and Now and Talk of the Nation.
She lives in Florida with her husband writer David G.W. Scott and their four kids, and teaches at Florida
State University's Creative Writing Program. Along with her husband, Baggott is a co-founder
of the nonprofit organization Kids in Need - Books in Deed.