[News Flash] Press Release – New Debutantes Take Over for 2019

“The Debutante Ball has introduced us to some of the best contemporary authors.”
-WeHeartWriting.com

For Immediate Release:

September 4, 2018– Founded in 2006, The Debutante Ball celebrates the journey of five female debut authors on their paths to publication. Through discussions that range from craft and creativity to copy edits and cover designs—plus weekly guest posts by published authors—The Debutante Ball offers guidance and a supportive community for aspiring and published writers, as well as for readers curious about the behind the scenes of book publishing. Now in its thirteenth year, the collaborative, daily blog has helped launch the careers of 60 authors, including New York Times bestselling authors Eleanor Brown (The Weird Sisters), and Tiffany Baker (The Little Giant of Aberdeen County), and acclaimed authors Natalia Sylvester (Everyone Knows You Go Home), Amy E. Reichert (The Coincidence of Coconut Cake), Aya de Leon (Uptown Thief), and Karma Brown (Come Away With Me).

This year, the 2019 Debutante Class includes five talented debut novelists whose books span a wide variety of genres, eras, and audiences. Their novels and blogging schedules are as follows:

	On Mondays you’ll hear from K.A. Doore, whose debut THE PERFECT ASSASSIN will be published by Tor Books in March 2019. In THE PERFECT ASSASSIN, a novice assassin stumbles upon the corpse of an important drum chief, and he must stop the murderer before they kill again. But Amastan’s an assassin, not a detective, and finding justice means dredging up a past better left forgotten.
	On Tuesdays you’ll hear from Devi S. Laskar, whose debut THE ATLAS OF REDS AND BLUES will be published by Counterpoint Press in February 2019. THE ATLAS OF REDS AND BLUES bears witness to American racism and abuse of power, and traces one woman’s shift from acquiescence to resistance; the story grapples with the complexities of what it means to be a woman in the workplace, a sister, a wife, a mother to daughters, a woman of color in today’s America.
	On Wednesdays you’ll hear from Layne Fargo, whose debut TEMPER will be published by Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster in May 2019. In TEMPER, two ambitious women drawn into the mind games of a manipulative theater director have to decide how far they’ll go when staged violence starts to draw real blood.
	On Thursdays you’ll hear from Stephanie Jimenez, whose debut THEY COULD HAVE NAMED HER ANYTHING will be published by Little A Books in August 2019. THEY COULD HAVE NAMED HER ANYTHING tells the story of two teenage girls—one Latina and one white—questioning what it means to live up to the name you’ve been given and how far you’ll go for the life you’ve always dreamed of; grappling with racism, class privilege, female friendship, and familial expectations, set in two contrasting New York City neighborhoods.
	And on Fridays you’ll hear from Martine Fournier Watson, whose debut THE DREAM PEDDLER will be published by Penguin Books in April 2019. In THE DREAM PEDDLER, a mysterious peddler claiming to sell bottled dreams arrives in a small farming town rocked by a small child’s disappearance, and the dreams he sells awaken the long-buried desires of the townspeople. To learn more about The Debutante Ball and the Class of 2019, visit www.thedebutanteball.com.