Jay Asher profile picture

Jay Asher

I am here for Friends and Networking

About Me

Check out my blog, The Disco Mermaids (home of The Newbery Jewels and The DePaola Code ), for info on my day-to-day writing existense. It also includes a photo-essay of what I did when I found out about the sale of Thirteen Reasons Why.

S'more info can be found at Razorbill Books (my publsiher), and Class of 2k7 (a co-op of 38 debut teen and middle-grade novelists).
Wanna support an independent bookstore, read or listen to my book, and get an autograph? Of course you do! Click here to find out more.
About my book: Thirteen Reasons Why

The rules are pretty simple. There are only two. Rule number one: You listen. Number two: You pass it on. Hopefully, neither one will be easy for you. (from Cassette 1: Side A)

Hannah Baker records the defining moments of the past few years of her life onto seven audiotapes. Thirteen stories involving several people at her school. She packs the tapes into a shoebox and mails them to the first person on the list. Then, she goes home to kill herself.

Two weeks later, Clay Jensen comes home from school to find a box with no return address leaning against his front door. Inside are seven audiotapes, their sides labeled 1 through 13 in blue nail polish. He has no idea what’s on the tapes, which is kind of exciting…until he presses play.

With Hannah’s voice as his narrator, Clay spends the rest of the night wandering through town, visiting places mentioned on the tapes, unearthing the thirteen reasons why Hannah chose to kill herself.

And one reason belongs to him.

Blurb from Chris Crutcher : Very clever premise, strong voice, perfect suspense. This one will keep you reading. Jay Asher is a fine storyteller.
Blurb from Gordon Korman : A spectacular first novel. Jay Asher tells his story with such honesty and simplicity that the tragedy feels shatteringly real.
from Kirkus Reviews (starred review): A brilliant and mesmerizing debut from a gifted new author.
Borders Original Voices pick - November 2007
Foreign Rights Sold: France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea

My Interests

I'd like to meet:

readers, writers, booksellers, and library people

Television:

I still think the best show ever was My So-Called Life. I own the complete series first edition which came in a MSCL lunchbox!

Books:

Stotan!, Stargirl, Blood and Chocolate, Vegan Virgin Valentine, Bridge to Terabithia, There's a Boy in the Girl's Bathroom

My Blog

Author Appearance / Book Club Info.

Host a Unique Book Club Event Whether your book club takes place in a library, school, bookstore, or home, I'd love to help you put together a unique event&even if I can't be there in person. About a ...
Posted by Jay Asher on Tue, 21 Aug 2007 06:16:00 PST

Reviews

Kirkus (starred review) "Everything affects everything," declares Hannah Baker, who killed herself two weeks ago. After her death, Clay Jensenwho had a crush on Hannahfinds seven cassette tapes in ...
Posted by Jay Asher on Tue, 21 Aug 2007 06:15:00 PST

Q & A...So Ask Away!

Do you want to know more about my writing process?  I'll tell ya.  Do you want to know the inspiration behind a certain scene?  I might tell ya.  Is your question a little more ran...
Posted by Jay Asher on Tue, 21 Aug 2007 06:14:00 PST

Author Bio. / Interviews

Coming soon! Interviews:  Little Willow Book Divas SmartWriters.com: regarding the Write-It-Now! Grand Prize win for Thirteen Reasons Why (then called Baker's Dozen: the AudioBiography of Anna Ba...
Posted by Jay Asher on Tue, 21 Aug 2007 06:18:00 PST

Thirteen Reasons Why (between the lines)

The Sparks: I once took a self-guided tour of King Tutankhamen's tomb where each visitor received a Walkman with a cassette tape inside. (Okay, it wasn't Mr. Tut's actual tomb&it was a mock-up in a La...
Posted by Jay Asher on Tue, 21 Aug 2007 06:17:00 PST