A. S. King

About A. S. King

Amy Sarig King was born and raised near Reading, Pennsylvania, and studied photography at the Art Institute of Philadelphia. In her mid-twenties she moved to Ireland, first living in Dublin and later renovating a farm in Tipperary while teaching adult literacy. She spent fifteen years writing novels before returning to Pennsylvania in 2004 and publishing her debut, The Dust of 100 Dogs, in 2009. She has since taught in the MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Vermont College of Fine Arts.

King writes for both teen and adult audiences, and her novels are known for blending realism with surreal, often magical elements to explore grief, identity, and the strange interior lives of teenagers. The New York Times Book Review has called her one of the best YA writers working today.

Notable Works and Honors

Please Ignore Vera Dietz (2010) received a Michael L. Printz Honor in 2011, and Ask the Passengers (2012) won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. King later became the only two-time winner of the Printz Award itself, for Dig (2019) and The Collectors: Stories (2023). In 2022 the American Library Association awarded her the Margaret A. Edwards Award, recognizing her body of work's lasting contribution to young adult literature.

Book Challenges

Ask the Passengers, whose protagonist questions her sexuality over the course of the novel, has been pulled from school libraries over its LGBTQ+ content, including a removal from public school libraries in Martin County, Florida. Please Ignore Vera Dietz has likewise drawn objections for its frank language and mature themes. Across this catalog, King's books have been recorded as banned in 7 states and 18 school districts. In 2023, King co-founded Gracie's House, a nonprofit creating safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth, named for her late daughter.