Lara Tupper

My new literary/speculative novel, forthcoming from Regal House Publishing (April 20, 2027). Available for preorder HERE.

Trapped in a dead-end teaching job, a toxic relationship, and a cramped Manhattan apartment, Koögon abandons it all for the Center: a secluded compound devoted to yoga, "empathic studies," and the secret preservation of banned books. At first, the Center seems like a sanctuary—but Koögon uncovers a thrilling secret. Amid nationwide paper bans, the Center maintains a black-market cache of blank notebooks, and Koögon must decide whether it is safe to leave her story for future generations.

Blending rich characterization with psychological complexity, At the Center reckons with the loss of printed material, the climate crisis, and the destabilizing rise of AI. At its heart, it is a visceral, courageous meditation on the power and risk of telling one's story—out loud and on paper.

Praise for At the Center:

"I raced through Lara Tupper's latest novel At the Center, as if on a scavenger hunt, eagerly stopping for clues to the exact nature of the untenable situation the narrator had trapped herself in the past (in an angry long-term relationship) and present (at a possibly cult-y yoga center). A looming sense of threat, as the book's surreal and dystopic threads resolved, had me sprinting even faster, eager to understand not just how the story, but the book's various themes, would dovetail, and especially curious about how the narrator would reconcile her conflicts with herself and others. An intriguing, complex book about the use and misuse of both power and empathy."

—Debra Spark, author of Discipline and Unknown Caller (finalist, Maine Literary Award)

"By turns witty and harrowing, and set in a near-future that dismally suggests where we're heading, At the Center features a protagonist who's fiercely feminist even as she allows her agenda to be trampled, and admirably fearless in her willingness to lay bare just how paralyzed anxiety has made her. Lara Tupper is devastating on both the nature of a co-dependent abusive relationship and the sanctimony and manipulative resourcefulness of the self-discovery/spiritual recovery industry."

—Jim Shepard, author of Like You'd Understand, Anyway (finalist, National Book Award; The Story Prize) and The Book of Aron (PEN New England Award)

"In poetic, spare, and constantly surprising prose, Lara Tupper imagines a dystopian future in which a paper ban has transformed society. In this dark new world, one woman journeys to the mysterious 'Center' to rediscover herself on the page. But does the Center truly offer freedom or has she simply stumbled into a new prison? A story about the power and peril of empathy, about the ghosts of the past and the courage needed to leave one's old life behind, At the Center is also a passionate crie de coeur for the written word's essential role in human experience."

—Alexis Schaitkin, author of Saint X (A New York Times Notable Book and Hulu Original Series) and Elsewhere (finalist, Carol Shields Prize)

"Lara Tupper's At the Center is a psychologically astute, dystopian novel set in a compellingly believable near-future in which not only books but paper itself is banned. Against this background of erasure, the unnamed narrator attempts to recover from great personal trauma by becoming a 'volunteer' at the secluded and seemingly spiritual Center, a place that promises healing through discipline and—ironically—committing the Volunteer's most private thoughts to paper. Tupper skillfully navigates this potentially bleak terrain through lyrical language and dark humor. Layered, nuanced, and deeply original, At the Center is both a shrewd political commentary on what happens when well-intentioned reform becomes just another method of institutional control and a compelling examination of the limits of self-actualization."

—Cynthia Reeves, author of The Last Whaler (Indie Reader Discovery Award; finalist, Maine Literary Award) and Falling Through the New World

"Full of feeling, At the Center explores a dystopian world where paper is banned, AI rules society, and a cult religion runs rampant. And yet, the real pleasure of this novel comes from the 'love story' that cuts through it all. A wise and, yes, romantic book for our times."

—Leigh Newman, author of Nobody Gets Out Alive (longlisted, National Book Award) and Still Points North

There's no place quite like Maine. It's Vacationland. The birthplace of L.L. Bean and the whoopie pie. Maine's landscape encompasses mountains, forests, beaches, islands, and even a desert! The winters are long and brutal, and the summers are plagued by black flies, venomous caterpillars, and tourists. But despite these challenges, and in part because of them, the people who call Maine home are some of the most generous, hard-working folks you'll ever meet. They never fail to show up (even in knee-deep snow) to support their communities.

Maine Character Energy is a charity collection of 11 written works that celebrate Maine's small towns, rugged wilderness, rocky coasts, and the everyday characters that make the Pine Tree State special. The authors include: Shannon Bowring, Paul Carro, Charlotte Crowder, Cynthia Graae, Karen Menzel (nee Bovenmyer), Mary E. Plouffe, Bruce Pratt, sid sibo, Michelle Soucy, Clif Travers, and Lara Tupper. Edited by Sarah Parke.

All proceeds from the collection will be donated to Everytown for Gun Safety in honor of the victims, survivors, and families of the Lewiston-Auburn mass shooting that took place on October 25, 2023. Rogue Owl Press, its editors, and its authors are not affiliated or endorsed by Everytown for Gun Safety. We are authors who hold Maine close to our hearts and want to help the best way that we can.

Short story collection from Leapfrog Press; winner, Leapfrog Global Fiction Award

"From page one, Amphibians is the work of an extraordinary talent. How shrewd and
compelling these stories are, as they range from Maine to New York to Japan to the Emirates
and back. Their remarkable gift is to show us – wisely and sharply – the crucial contradictions
of feeling in whatever unfolds, from passing encounters to long-held ties." – Joan Silber, PEN/
Faulkner and National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author of Secrets of Happiness

Amphibians invites contemplation of what it means to reside in a female form. An amphibious
aircraft crashes in Maine, a young girl skinny-dips with her elders, a distraught cruise ship
dancer boards a water taxi in Grenada and travellers to Dubai and Abu Dhabi long for
familiar oceans. Amphibians celebrates home in a cross-cultural way, and the sensation of
feeling not quite right in one's own skin, on land and near water, at home and abroad.

"A compelling, wise and beautiful book. Each location feels prickly and alive, like it might lift
off the page." – Ramona Ausubel, author of Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty, an NPR
Best Book of the Year

"Tupper is akin to Barbara Kingsolver when it comes to stories."– Cynthia Brackett-Vincent,
author of Questions About Home

"Like a great journey, this collection will leave you changed." —Porter Fox author of Northland: A 4,000-Mile Journey Along America's Forgotten Border  

"Mobility, adaptability and colorful changes are confronted by the girls and women in Lara Tupper's nimble interlinked collection, aptly titled Amphibians. Although each memorable story easily stands alone, to seek and recognize the deft connections intensifies the reading experience." - Terry Hong, Shelf Awareness

"If Amphibians is the first work by Tupper that readers pick up, it certainly won't be the last." - Annie Roach, You Just Have to Read This

"Gorgeous, felt stories. Each one creates a world with people who shimmer and live. A must read from a great talent." - STAFF PICK, The Book Loft, Great Barrington, MA

"It's important for students of writing to see/read international juxtapositions and characters. Tupper's stories will stay with students well beyond the conversations of the semester. They offer diversity and complex female characters who navigate the world with a sense of adventure – and they are not always safe. Lara also brings a range of talent beyond the page, as she is a singer who communicates with audiences around the world. Pacing and intonation are integral to her success [in music and in writing]." - Professor Rebecca Cuthbert, Department of English, SUNY Fredonia

"Pure color! Everything must be sacrificed to it," said Paul Gauguin. OFF ISLAND presents two parallel stories about artists who sacrifice. Paul and Mette describe their marriage in 1903; Pete and Molly describe their daily lives in contemporary coastal Maine.

"Lara Tupper's OFF ISLAND is a beautiful accomplishment, unlike any other work of fiction I can recall. The two narratives intertwine in such a way as to both demystify historical celebrity and elevate contemporary plainfolk. The prose is seductive and elegant, the story smart, enlightening, and oh so satisfying." - Antonya Nelson, author of BOUND and FUNNY ONCE

"Maine writer Lara Tupper has written a luminous novel, OFF ISLAND, about Gauguin, his (imagined) life and legacy. From music to writing to (writing about) art, Lara Tupper has a unique take on the world. Take a look yourself! – Christina Baker Kline, author of ORPHAN TRAIN and A PIECE OF THE WORLD

"Dense with beautiful coastal imagery and thoughtful in its consideration of ill-suited connections, the novel picks its seams of marriages and affairs with clarity. Though Gauguin's legacy is dark, OFF ISLAND, with its vulnerable characters and moody setting, is a novel to savor." - Karen Rigby, FOREWORD REVIEWS

"Beautifully understated, deft in its details, evocative of place and eras, Lara Tupper's OFF ISLAND combines the painter's perception of the visual world with the sensuality and coarseness of the physical world. Masterful and matter-of-fact, Tupper adeptly blends art, character study, and mystery in this compact, elliptical novel." – Peter Turchi, author of A MUSE AND A MAZE and MAPS OF THE IMAGINATION

"What if Paul Gauguin went to Maine? That's the launching point of Lara Tupper's glistening new novel, OFF ISLAND, which reaches back into a vividly imagined history and traces it forward into the modern day lives of a tortured artist who may or may not be Gauguin's descendant and the women he loves. In mesmeric prose, rich with sensual detail and a burning empathy for her characters, moving between Maine and New York and Copenhagen, Tupper blends what might have been with what is and in doing so throws a painter's light on all our pasts and presents." - Jeremy Gavron, author of FELIX CULPA and A WOMAN ON THE EDGE OF TIME

"Lara Tupper's prose shines with the same vibrancy of color that captivated her protagonist [Paul Gauguin]....An elegant investigation of family and art as conflicting forces...an awe-inspiring portrait that readers will be reluctant to leave." - Sara McCrea, YOU JUST HAVE TO READ THIS
 

Funny, fast-paced, and incisive, A Thousand and One Nights captures the performances, large and small, we use to make it through life. (Harcourt Trade Publisher)

"Wonderful and incisive, A Thousand and One Nights tells us in a new way what it means to be young and American. Tupper casts a keen, intelligent eye on the contemporary world, its multitude of fakeries and deceits, providing us with a witty, poignant, wholly worthwhile read."— Elizabeth Strout

"Both an off-kilter take on the conventional coming-of-age tale and a sly commentary on the underbelly of celebrity culture, this truly original book is basically uncategorizable—blissfully so." - Elle.com

"This is a moving and accomplished first novel." - Jim Shepard

"A one-of-a-kind book, fascinating and honest." — Joan Silber

"Shrewdly observed." - The Boston Globe

"Add [this] title to your must-read list." -The Sacramento Bee

Adaptation co-written with filmmaker Greg Eismin. Call us, Christopher Guest!

“Irresistibly clever.” -Chicago Tribune