HarperCollins imprint Ecco will publish Elizabeth Acevedo’s first novel for adults in English and Spanish, the press announced in a news release.
The as-yet-untitled novel follows members of a Dominican American family preparing a wake for a still-living matriarch.
“This novel has been humming underneath my skin for close to a decade and I’m delighted to share it with the world,” Acevedo said. “Of all the places that could have helped usher it into being, it feels auspicious the manuscript landed in the careful hands of Ecco and my publishing family at HarperCollins. ¡Prepárense! This book is going from soft hum to full-throated chorus."
Acevedo is best known as the author of the young adult novel The Poet X, which won the National Book Award and was a finalist for the Kirkus Prize. Her other YA books include With the Fire on High and Clap When You Land, also a Kirkus Prize finalist.
Ecco editorial director Helen Atsma said, “I’ve long been an enormous fan of Elizabeth Acevedo’s fiction: her poet’s ear makes every line count, and her storyteller’s heart plumbs the depths of the human condition. She pushes literature forward with each highly original book she writes, and I can’t wait to introduce a wide audience of adult readers to her work.”
Acevedo’s novel is scheduled for publication in 2023.
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
