As a woman of Afro descent, it was deeply moving to return to the African continent and reckon with the erased pieces of my heritage,” she said. And since September 25, Gray has been on a hybrid national tour, where stops have included The Lit Bar (virtually in-conversation with author Sabaa Tahir) and an in-person appearance at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo during Cleveland Book Week.Ī few months after completing that pivotal course, Gray embarked on a program studying abroad in Ghana, where she said she had “an incredibly powerful experience. Penguin Teen additionally supported the title with custom content in its dedicated newsletter mailings and social posts shared with its 1.3 million members.Ĭloser to the book’s release, Gray appeared on Good Morning America, which featured her TikTok unboxing video. Over the summer, the Penguin Teen online community invited four groups of influencers to join private virtual book clubs and meet-and-greets with Gray. “After Hours” virtual events at the ALA Midwinter and Texas Library Association conferences followed, along with three virtual meet-and-greets with booksellers from across the country during which Gray appeared in conversation with her editor, Stacey Barney, now associate publisher of Nancy Paulsen Books.
Entertainment Weekly announced that Gray’s trilogy had been acquired in a preempt, and Oprah Daily ran a cover reveal and excerpt from the novel. To date, translation rights have been sold into 16 territories.īeasts of Prey’s road to becoming one of the buzziest books of the fall began more than a year ago when Penguin Young Readers kicked off a lead-up campaign. Last month, Netflix announced it will be developing the series as a feature film, produced by Bryan Unkeless’s Clubhouse Pictures and adapted by Melody Cooper. Out of the gate, the book landed at #4 on the New York Times young adult hardcover bestseller list and has remained on the list for a second week. The story of two Black teens, who form a dangerous alliance and venture into the magical Greater Jungle in pursuit of a terrifying, murderous creature called the Shetani, launched with a first printing of 250,000 copies on September 28. Perhaps fitting for a tale featuring a high-energy hunt, Ayana Gray’s Pan-African YA fantasy debut Beasts of Prey (Putnam), the inaugural title in a planned trilogy, has hit the ground running.
0 kommentar(er)
