A new book by Lauren Groff is coming in 2026.
Riverhead will publish Groff’s Brawler, a collection of short stories, next winter, the press announced in a news release. It calls the book “precise, surprising, and provocative, anchored by profound insight into human nature.”
Groff made her literary debut in 2008 with the novel The Monsters of Templeton and followed that up the next year with the story collection Delicate Edible Birds. She has been named a finalist for the National Book Award three times, for Fates and Furies, Florida, and Matrix. Her most recent book, the novel The Vaster Wilds, was published in 2023.
“Brawler reveals the repeated, sometimes heartbreaking turning points between love and fear, compassion and violence, reason and instinct, altruism and what it takes to survive,” Riverhead says. “It is a timeless, stunning achievement from one of the very best short story writers working today.”
Groff talked to Elle about her new book, saying, “As I’m writing, I don’t have much control over which stories come to me with urgency. But I do have control over the selection of the stories and the way that they speak to one another. The first story offers questions that are then modified as the stories go on—they’re shifted, they’re moved, they’re seen in a different light.”
Brawler is scheduled for publication on February 24, 2026.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
