A.S. King is a prolific, unique writer best known for "Dig," "Ask the Passengers," "Please Ignore Vera Dietz," and "The Collectors." She has received twice the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Edgar Award, and the Printz Honor. Her work often combines surrealism with raw emotional depth, offering a fresh perspective on the human experience.
The older we get, the more we understand that life is impossible to actually understand. Things are not often straightforward, and the more we do discover, the more we realize there is to discover. But when we read, we want to relate, to see the words on a page and have them reflect the world back at us in a way that makes it feel more digestible. A.S. (Amy Sarig) King has found that the only way to really do that is to make the mirror as absurd as the real thing. In today’s American political realm, the word weird is taking on a new layer of meaning. But for Amy, weirdness has always been a lifeline. For her and her characters.
She draws on weirdness and absurdity to tap deeper into the trauma her characters face. From anger to misplaced guilt, sadness to grief, and a general sense of overwhelming anxiety, teens have so much to process. And nothing peeves Amy like adults’ dismissal of these experiences, of this trauma, for teens. She is passionate about challenging that norm, validating teens, and offering a surreal mirror to help them understand the world as it truly is: weird.
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Keeping it on brand and consistent, Amy offers us a truly unique reading challenge with a bizarrely loveable title. Weird stuff that's totally readable, may be old, but it's really good. Hear me out. That’s Amy’s pitch and title for her reading challenge. It’s a good one! Find out more for yourself at thereadingculturepod.com/as-king.
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This episode’s Beanstack Featured Librarian is Alana Graves, a Librarian and Summer Experience Coordinator at Austin Public Library. She recounts an adorable mermaid story from one of her summer programs.
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Listen to the full episode, “Surreal Talk: A.S. King on Validating Teen Trauma,” on
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