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The Arkansas Center for the Book at the Arkansas State Library announces that the 2023 If All Arkansas Read the Same Book program will feature Ayana Gray’s “Beasts of Prey” series. Ms. Gray’s debut novel, “Beasts of Prey,” was published in the fall of 2021. “Beasts of Ruin” (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2022) is the second novel in the series of three and was published last summer. In the series, fate binds a beast keeper and a warrior-in-training together as they unravel mysteries that threaten their home. The third novel in the series is forthcoming.
Ayana Gray is a “New York Times” bestselling young adult fantasy author and a lover of all things monsters, mythos, and magic. Originally from Atlanta, she now lives in Little Rock, where she reads avidly, follows Formula One racing, and worries over the varying moods of her adopted baby black rhino, Apollo, and her mini goldendoodle, Dolly. “Beasts of Prey” is being translated into ten languages across five continents and is in feature film development with Netflix.
This will be the first time since 2019 that the If All Arkansas Read the Same Book program will be live and in person. Three events are planned for the summer in different parts of the state: Thursday, June 8, 2023, at Fort Smith Public Library; Saturday, July 15, 2023, at Cabot Public Library; and Saturday, August 5, 2023, at Monticello Branch Library. All events will be free and open to the public. More information will be available on the Arkansas State Library website (https://www.library.arkansas.gov/). The Arkansas State Library is a division of the Arkansas Department of Education. The If All Arkansas Read the Same Book community-read project is made possible in part by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Copies of “Beasts of Prey” will soon be available at all public libraries throughout the
