A. S. King

Amy Sarig King (born March 10, 1970) is an American writer of short fiction and young adult fiction. She is the recipient of the 2022 Margaret Edwards Award for her "significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature". She is also the only two-time recipient of the Michael L. Printz Award for Dig and as editor and contributor to The Collectors: Stories (2023).

Biography King was born March 10, 1970, in Reading, Pennsylvania. She graduated from Exeter Township Senior High School in 1988, earned a degree in photography at The Art Institute of Philadelphia, and then moved to Dublin, Ireland, where she began writing novels in 1994. After two years in Dublin, she relocated to Tipperary, where she renovated a farm and taught literacy to adults. She returned to Pennsylvania in 2004 and published her first novel, The Dust of 100 Dogs, in 2009, after fifteen years of writing.

Career

Works King is the author of numerous young adult books that have earned her recognition as "one of the best YA writers working today" by The New York Times Book Review. Her work is known for bridging the gap between young adult and adult readers. King devotes much of her time and platform to mental health advocacy. In her presentations, she often centers topics such as life skills, emotions, bullying, self-esteem, safe relationships, and trauma.

In 2023, King and her son founded Gracie’s House, a nonprofit that provides safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth to express themselves artistically and to enjoy nature and camping. The organization is named for King’s late daughter.

Awards and honors In 2015, King was named the "Outstanding Pennsylvania Author" for that year by the Pennsylvania School Librarians Associations; all of her novels are set in the state. In 2022, she won the American Library Association's Margaret Edwards Award, which recognizes an author and "a specific body of his or her work, for significant and lasting contribution to young adult literature". In 2024, King was awarded the YALSA's Michael L. Printz Award, for the anthology The Collectors: Stories — the first time an anthology has won the award and the first time an author has won the award twice.

Awards and honors for individual books are listed below.

The Dust of 100 Dogs

Please Ignore Vera Dietz Please Ignore Vera Dietz is a Junior Library Guild book. Kirkus Reviews named the book one of the best books for teens in 2010,

Monica Never Shuts Up Monica Never Shuts Up was nominated for 2010 Best New American Voices, Short Fiction.

Everybody Sees the Ants Everybody Sees the Ants is a Junior Library Guild book.

Ask the Passengers Ask the Passengers is a Junior Library Guild book. The book was named one of the best young adult books of the year by Kirkus Reviews and Publishers Weekly. Andrew Harwell of HarperCollins Children's Books also favorited Ask the Passengers for 2013, stating, To my mind, King falls in a camp with George Saunders as a writer who flouts conventions of genre and structure out of a sense that the world is full of meaning, but it is also totally crazy. King's books repeatedly stretch the boundaries of YA fiction, and are always grounded by their unflinching looks at real, imperfect families. So while I would be hard-pressed to say which of her books was my favorite read in 2013, it would definitely be one of them, and I think that says it all.

Reality Boy Reality Boy is a Junior Library Guild book. Kirkus Reviews and Publishers Weekly named it one of the best books of the year. In 2014, the American Library Association selected it for their "Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers" list.

Glory O'Brien's History of the Future Glory O'Brien's History of the Future is a Junior Library Guild book. The Boston Globe, Bustle, Kirkus Reviews, the Los Angeles Public Library, Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal named it one of the best young adult books of 2014. It was also named a New York Times Editor's Choice and Booklist Editors' Choice book.

I Crawl Through It I Crawl Through It is a Junior Library Guild book. Booklist, The Horn Book Magazine, and VOYA The New York Times, School Library Journal, named it one of the best young adult novels of the year.

Me and Marvin Gardens The Washington Post and Chicago Public Library named Me and Marvin Gardens one of the best books of the year. It is a 2018-2019 Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List selection, 2018-2019 Pennsylvania Young Readers Choice Awards nominee, and 2019 Rebecca Caudill Young Readers' Book Award nominee.

Dig

In 2019, The Horn Book Magazine named Dig one of the best novels of the year, +Awards for Dig Year Award Result Ref. 2020 Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults Top 10 2020 Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Finalist 2020 Michael L. Printz Award Winner In 2019, The Horn Book Magazine named it one of the best novels of the year, The American Library Association also included in on their 2020 Notable Children's Books list.

Switch BookPage and the Chicago Public Library named Switch one of the best young adult books of 2021. The Young Adult Library Services Association included it on their 2022 list of the Best Fiction for Young Adults.

The Collectors: Stories King became the only person to win the two Michael L. Printz Awards with The Collectors: Stories, an anthology she edited and contributed to. The award is shared with M. T. Anderson, E.E. Charlton-Trujillo, David Levithan, Cory McCarthy, Anna-Marie McLemore, Greg Neri, Jason Reynolds, Randy Ribay, and Jenny Torres Sanchez. +Awards for The Collectors Year Award Result Ref. 2024 Michael L. Printz Award Winner and the Chicago Public Library named Pick the Lock one of the best teen books of 2024. News Public Radio included it on their 2024 list of the NPR's Books We Love 2024.

An NPR Best Book of the Year "A roller coaster of a book, Pick the Lock is one thrill after another."—NPR A Boston Globe Best Book of the Year A Chicago Public Library Best Book of the Year An Amazon Best Book of the Year A Shelf Awareness Best Book of the Year A Horn Book Fanfare Book An ALA Top Ten Amazing Audiobook