'Unflinchingly irreverent, laugh out loud funny and heartbreakingly honest' Elizabeth Acevedo, bestselling author of The Poet X

'Morgan Parker put this song on - and I hope it never turns off' Nic Stone, bestselling author of Dear Martin

WHEN THE WORLD SAYS FIT IN, ASK WHY

Trapped in sunny, stifling, small-town suburbia, seventeen-year-old Morgan knows why she's in therapy. She can't count the number of times she's been the only non-white person at the sleepover, been teased for her "weird" outfits, and been told she's not "really" black. Also, she's spent most of her summer crying in bed. So there's that, too.

Lately, it feels like the whole world is listening to the same terrible track on repeat - and it's telling them how to feel, who to vote for, what to believe. Morgan wonders, when can she turn this song off and begin living for herself?

Life may be a never-ending hamster wheel of agony, but Morgan finds her crew of fellow outcasts, blasts music like there's no tomorrow, discovers what being black means to her, and finally puts her mental health first. She decides that, no matter what, she will always be intense, ridiculous, passionate, and sometimes hilarious. After all, darkness doesn't have to be a bad thing. Darkness is just real.

Loosely based on her own teenage life and diaries, Morgan Parker's WHO PUT THIS SONG ON? is an outstanding debut, full of courage, generosity and reasons to live.

About the Author
Morgan Parker is the author of Magical Negro (Corsair 2019), There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyonce (Corsair 2017), and Other People's Comfort Keeps Me Up at Night (Switchback Books 2015). Her poetry and essays have been published and anthologized in numerous publications, including the Paris Review; The BreakBeat Poets: New American Poetry in the Age of Hip-Hop; Best American Poetry 2016; the New York Times; and the Nation. Parker is the recipient of a 2017 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship, winner of a 2016 Pushcart Prize, and a Cave Canem graduate fellow. Find her online at morgan-parker.com and on Twitter at @morganapple.

Reviews
2019 justly belongs to Morgan Parker . . . [she] is one of this generation's best minds -- Danez Smith * New York Times *
Lauded poet Parker makes a triumphant first impression in the YA space with this lyrical semi-autobiographical story of a 17-year-old black girl struggling with depression while living in small-town suburbia * EW *
Lovely, honest, wrenching and funny - a tribute to music, survival and the power of finding beautiful moments of "temporary escape" * New York Times *
Nothing short of triumphant * NYLON *
Morgan Parker's poetry is vital, in both senses of the word. Her most recent collection, There Are Things More Beautiful Than Beyonce, was an absolute knockout * Literary Hub *



Book Information
ISBN 9781472154217
Author Morgan Parker
Format Paperback
Page Count 336
Imprint ATOM
Publisher Little, Brown Book Group
Weight(grams) 232g
Dimensions(mm) 196mm * 126mm * 16mm