Anna Dorn is the author of the novels Perfume and Pain, Exalted, Vagablonde, and American Spirits. She was a Lambda Literary Fellow and Exalted was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. She lives in Los Angeles.
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"Anna Dorn writes vivid, striking prose that reinterprets pop culture, the particularities of Southern California, and the complex technology of our human brains. An original, hilarious, and spot on debut."
—Dana Spiotta
A fantastic novel that feels contemporary in all the right ways. In the world of Vagablonde, fame is more important than mental health, good lighting is more important than food, and ‘thriving’ is more important than any mundane obligation. Anna Dorn’s sentences are sharp and addictive, absorbing me completely into this world of music, friendship, and self-interrogation."
—Chelsea Hodson
"As a Virgo with control issues, I devoured this tale of a Virgo out of control. A provocative exploration of the tenacious narcissism that it takes to #thrive, Vagablonde is also a serious inquiry into the ways our blue check verified culture fractures our public and private selves."
—Courtney Maum
"It’s tempting to compare Vagablonde to Joan Didion’s Play It As It Lays... But Dorn’s firecracker of a novel is all her own."
—Michael Schaub, ALTA
"Dorn’s fresh, startling debut tracks the quick rise to fame of a restless L.A. rap artist. Prue Van Teesen, a 30-year-old lawyer and bedroom lyricist, believes the antidepressants she’s taking are cramping her style... Dorn’s voice slices like a serrated knife through a wacked-out world of contemporary music culture, where glittery dreams go viral and die."
—Publishers Weekly
"Dorn’s narrative is intoxicating, particularly in its depiction of the existential ennui that’s stemmed from our insatiable consumer culture... Dorn may have written the horror novel we deserve."
—Kirkus Reviews
"When readers meet Prue, she’s living a privileged LA life: doing uppers on special occasions, going to shows with her girlfriend at night, and writing freelance legal briefs during the day. Prue is simply biding her time until her rap career, under the pseudonym Vagablonde, can take off... The author is careful to never judge Prue, leaving readers wondering whether the story constitutes satire or is simply a precautionary tale. A memorable meditation on narcissism and fame."
—Booklist
“Dorn adeptly mines the unique cultural territory of being a Hollywood-adjacent young queer woman in the early 21st century.”
—LAMBDA Literary
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