Library of America will cap its thirty-fifth anniversary celebrations in fall 2017 with two major milestones. In September we will release the three hundredth volume in the Library of America series, and for the first time ever, three living authors appear in the same season.
Volume #300 is worthy of its landmark status. Why Write?: Collected Nonfiction 1960–2013 by Philip Roth—a companion to LOA’s nine-volume edition of his collected fiction—gathers more than fifty years of Roth’s statements on literature, the writing life, his books, and the controversies surrounding them. A number of the essays that originally appeared in the collections Shop Talk and Reading Myself and Others have been newly revised by the author, and an additional fourteen pieces are collected here for the first time.
Ursula K. Le Guin: The Complete Hainish Novels & Stories is the first comprehensive edition of the pathbreaking works that transformed the science fiction genre, from The Dispossessed and The Left Hand of Darkness to the story suite Five Ways to Forgiveness (appearing here in complete form for the first time). As a special feature this two-volume collector’s boxed set also features rare essays and introductions by Le Guin and two versions of a story that laid the groundwork for The Left Hand of Darkness.
Library of America celebrates John Ashbery’s ninetieth birthday with Collected Poems 1990–2000, the second volume (previously announced for July 2017) in the definitive edition of his work, restoring to print all of his poetry from a crucial decade in his career. The volume includes the modern classic Flow Chart in a newly corrected text and the fascinating book-length poem Girls on the Run, which was inspired by the work of outsider artist Henry Darger.
Twentieth-century master of the short story Peter Taylor makes his Library of America debut with Complete Stories, an unprecedented two-volume edition of his acclaimed short fiction. Edited and introduced by Ann Beattie, this collector’s boxed set presents for the first time in their order of composition all sixty of the stories that Taylor published during his professional career, including five never before collected in book form.
Finally, for connoisseurs of classic crime fiction, two striking new boxed sets gather LOA’s three-volume editions of the novels of Elmore Leonard and Ross Macdonald.
Bonus Spring paperback release: In May, our most controversial Founding Father comes to life in his own words in The Essential Hamilton: Letters & Other Writings, the first paperback edition of Alexander Hamilton’s extraordinary writings for the general reader. Edited with an introduction and commentary by leading Hamilton scholar Joanne B. Freeman, The Essential Hamilton presents all the key texts that served as the source material for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s smash hit musical.
Browse the list below for more detailed information about contents and publication dates. For a list of titles LOA will publish earlier in the year, see our Winter–Spring 2017 announcement.
LIBRARY OF AMERICA SERIES
Ursula K. Le Guin
The Hainish Novels & Stories (two volumes)
Brian Attebery, editor
Volume One
Library of America #296 / ISBN 978-1-59853-538-9
Volume Two
Library of America #297 / ISBN 978-1-59853-539-6
Boxed set: ISBN 978-1-59853-537-2
September 2017
Philip Roth
Why Write?: Collected Nonfiction 1960–2013
Library of America #300 / ISBN 978-1-59853-540-2
September 2017
John Ashbery
Collected Poems 1990–2000
Mark Ford, editor
Library of America #301 / ISBN 978-1-59853-535-8
October 2017
Peter Taylor
The Complete Stories (two volumes)
Ann Beattie, editor
Volume One: Complete Stories 1938–1959
Library of America #298 / ISBN 978-1-59853-542-6
Volume Two: Complete Stories 1960–1992
Library of America #299 / ISBN 978-1-59853-543-3
Boxed set: ISBN 978-1-59853-541-9
October 2017
SPECIAL PUBLICATION
The Essential Hamilton: Letters & Other Writings
Joanne B. Freeman, editor
Paperback / ISBN 978-1-59853-536-5
May 2017
BOXED SETS
Elmore Leonard: The Classic Crime Novels (three volumes)
Gregg Sutter, Editor
September 2017
Boxed set ISBN 978-1-59853-551-8
The Ross Macdonald Collection (three volumes)
Tom Nolan, Editor
September 2017
Boxed set ISBN 978-1-59853-552-5