The MFA in Writing for Young Readers team is cheering for founding faculty member A.S. King, who just completed her doctorate at Bath Spa University in the UK, writing a thesis called, “Decoding Trauma: A.S. King’s Process of Writing Surrealist Young Adult Literature.” Amy is the definitive voice of surrealism in YA.
A.S. King has been called “One of the best YA writers working today” by The New York Times Book Review. She is the only two-time winner of the American Library Association’s Michael L. Printz Award (2020 for Dig and 2024 for The Collectors) and has won the LA Times Book Prize for Ask the Passengers. In 2022, King received the ALA’s Margaret A. Edwards Award for her lifetime achievement in YA literature, and in 2023, she accepted the ALAN Award for “artistry, courage, and outstanding contributions to YA literature.” In 2024, she released the highly anticipated Pick the Lock–described as “a punk opera, a primal scream, and a portrait of a family buried in lies.”
She also writes middle-grade fiction as Amy Sarig King, including bestselling Attack of the Black Rectangles, which Kirkus Reviews called “a searingly relevant opus to intellectual freedom,” The Year We Fell from Space, and Me and Marvin Gardens.
We are so proud of her many achievements and looking forward to matching her with students.
