Are you ready to get your book published? Since 2020, Book Project writers have signed over 30 book deals with prestigious presses and imprints like Simon & Schuster, Knopf, Tin House, Celadon, Riverhead, Penguin Random House, and Hachette. The Book Project has helped launch books across multiple genres, demonstrating our commitment to all of our writers’ careers.
Celebrate the latest books and accomplishments from writers and graduates of the Book Project.
Lior Torenberg (BP class of 2024)
Published by Simon & Schuster in January 2026, Lior's debut novel was a big hit. As New York magazine's Emily Gould said, “Fans of Melissa Broder, Rufi Thorpe, and Ottessa Moshfegh will laugh, cringe, empathize, and be mesmerized by the spectacle of one woman’s attempt to solve all her financial and emotional problems in the most adventurous, public, and high-stakes way possible. Just Watch Me is addictive and propulsive.”
"The Lighthouse Book Project gave me exactly the mentorship, community, and support I needed at a critical time in my writing career. The faculty is engaged, the peers are committed, and the value is excellent. Book Project has also continued to support me as my writing career progresses, and I’m so grateful to have the terrific team in my corner.” -Lior Torenberg
Jihyun Jun (BP class of 2023)
Jihyun Yun's YA novel And the River Drags Her Down came out in the fall 2025 from Knopf, the first of a two-book deal. When her older sister is found mysteriously drowned in the river that cuts through their small coastal town, Soojin Han disregards every rule and uses her ancestral magic to bring Mirae back from the dead.
"The book that I wrote at Lighthouse went on to sell in a twelve-bidder auction to Knopf, and is slated for publication in fall of 2025. In a lot of ways, I feel like my whirlwind experience from draft to selling, because it all happened within two to three years, was largely thanks to my time in the Book Project. I say this because I tend to be an avid drafter, but I get discouraged during revisions… but the structure of the Book Project, and the accountability I felt to my mentor and wonderful cohort, kept me focused enough to see the book through to completion.” —Jihyun Jun
John J. Lennon (BP class of 2022)
"This searing exploration of what it means to be both a long-ago purveyor of pain as well as a most gifted present-day narrator of it, to be a writer both sensationalized and silenced, will haunt and it will inspire. At once a true crime page turner and a powerful memoir, The Tragedy of True Crime reminds us all that to be flawed is still to be human." ―Heather Ann Thompson, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Blood in the Water: the Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and its Legacy.
Nini Berndt (BP class of 2020)
Published in June 2025, Nini Berndt's (BP '20) debut novel from Tin House Books. As Claire Messud says, "There Are Reasons for This immerses you in the unsettling but tender lives of its characters, whose yearning for connection powerfully mirrors our own. This is a truly memorable novel."
Kari Leibowitz (BP Class of 2023)
Inspired by the latest research, Kari Leibowitz's How to Winter equips readers with the tools and knowledge they need to persevere through all of life's seasons.
Anna Hogeland (BP Class of 2017)
Anna Hogeland's debut novel, The Long Answer, came out in June 2022 from Riverhead (Penguin Random House) to starred reviews from Kirkus and Booklist, and critical raves. "A triumph of human portraiture, as subtle as it is seething," according to the Sunday Times.
Becca Andrews (BP Class of 2022)
Becca's reporting for Mother Jones, The New Republic, and elsewhere started her on this nonfiction book that was fast-tracked by Hachette in light of the 2022 Dobbs decision. Called "absolutely captivating" by the likes of Leslie Jamison, we were pleased to launch this book at Lighthouse shortly after its release in September of 2022.
Simone Stolzoff (BP Class of 2022)
Simone Stolzoff has written a book to challenge the way work takes over our lives, was published by Penguin Random House in May 2023. He and Ted McCombs had a debut event at Lit Fest 2023. Anne Helen Peterson lauded the book as "an incredibly propulsive read, filled with characters whose stories will be at once familiar and astonishing." A former design lead at the global innovation firm IDEO, Simo's work has been featured in The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, and many other publications.
"Understanding the publishing industry can seem like a dark art—especially for first-time authors. Working with Shana felt like having a cheat code. Not only is she an industry insider who knows how to sell books, but she’ll work with you hand-in-hand until the moment you’re ready to submit.” —Simone Stoltzof
Ted McCombs (BP Class of 2015)
About Theodore McComb's debut collection, Uranians, Carmen Maria Machado says, “I have been waiting for this sumptuous, prismatic collection for literal years." McCombs was a long-time Lighthouse member before joining the Book Project, and has a good many fans waiting for this book, came out in May 2023 from Astra House (Penguin Random House), to be followed by a novel. He and Simo Soltzoff had kickoff events at Lit Fest 2023.
Signed Book Deals
- Joe Santini (BP class of 2026) signed a deal for his memoir, Inside the Riptide, with DK, for publication in 2027.
- Simo Stolzoff (BP class of 2022): his second book, How To Not Know, comes out from Norton in May 2026.
- Angelique Stevens (BP class of 2023): Angelique is currently working on a collection of essays about poverty and the myth of the American Dream due out from Simon & Schuster.
- Lior Torenberg (BP class of 2024): Just Watch Me (Avid Reader Press/ Simon & Schuster, spring 2026, part of a pre-empt)
- Jihyun Yun (BP class of 2023): And The River Drags Her Down (Knopf, 2025, part of a major two-book deal)
- John J. Lennon (BP class of 2022): The Tragedy of True Crime (Celadon Books, 2025)
- Nini Berndt (BP class of 2020): There Are Reasons for This (Tin House Books, spring 2025)
- Kari Leibowitz (BP class of 2023): How to Winter (Penguin Life, forthcoming in Oct. 2024)
- Theodore McCombs (BP class of 2015): Novel TBA (Astra House, second of a two-book deal)
- Jenny Dandy (BP class of 2020): 3-book deal, first is Brownstone on E. 83rd (Level Best, spring 2024)
- Simone Stolzoff (BP class of 2022): Unknowing (W.W. Norton, release TBA)
- Jan Thomas (BP class of 2017): The AI Incident (Levine Querido), spring 2025
Other News
...and many, many more!