November is National Novel Writing Month. NaNoWriMo is a nonprofit organization that, according to a New York Times piece earlier this month, enlists professional writers like Jasmine Guillory (whose debut novel THE WEDDING DATE came out of the creative challenge), Anne Lamott, and Rainbow Rowell to write pep talks for participants. NaNoWriMo’s executive director, Grant Faulkner, describes it as “one part writing boot camp, one part rollicking party.”

Writing a novel is a brave, imaginative endeavor and National Novel Writing Month is all the more reason to celebrate first-time novelists published this year. The following debut novels span genres and settings, and each has received widespread praise from reviewers, librarians, booksellers and readers: Continue reading →