Books
I’m an IPPY- and INDIE-award-winning author of more than fifteen books.
No matter what I’m writing, I write books that shine light on difficult subjects with grace and humor. All of my books center mental illness and mental disability.
My books: I’m the author of award-winning trade nonfiction books, romantic women’s fiction, and academic books on law and writing. Below are links to learn more about my titles.
Bookclubs and Class Meetings: I’m always happy to join via videochat any book clubs, higher ed reading groups, and classes that have adopted my books. Email me to organize.
Speaking: If you would like me to book me to speak at an event, please contact my speaker’s bureau.
“Moving, vital.”
Purchase Books
My books are available in paperback and ebook wherever books are sold, including your local bookshop. You can also use the link below.
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Book Awards and Recognition
- TAKE YOUR CHARMING SOMEWHERE ELSE: A Novel
- Winner of the 2022 IPPY Gold Medal in the Romance category. (An IPPY is an Independent Publisher Book Award for small press titles.)
- EVEN IF YOU’RE BROKEN: Essays on Sexual Assault and #MeToo
- Winner of the 2020 IPPY Gold Medal in its category. (An IPPY is an Independent Publisher Book Award for small press titles.)
- Selected by RAINN as a featured book in 2021.
- LIFE OF THE MIND INTERRUPTED: Essays on Mental Health and Disability in Higher Education
- Named to THE PROFESSOR IS IN Top 12 Books About Academia in 2021.
- Picked by Book Riot as one of the top 5 Books to Help You Understand Higher Education in 2019.
- Amazon best-selling title
- THE FREELANCE ACADEMIC: Transform Your Creative Life and Career
- Winner of a GOLD 2019 INDIES Award in the Careers Category (the INDIES are Foreword Magazine’s awards for small press titles).
- Named to THE PROFESSOR IS IN Top 12 Books About Academia in 2021.
- named to the Recommended Reading list by FROM PHD TO LIFE in 2021 for academics “actively looking for paid employment or exploring career options.”
- Named to the Recommended Reading list by FROM PHD TO LIFE in 2021.
- FALLOUT GIRL: A Novel
- Picked by CHAPEL HILL MAGAZINE as one of its top 5 Books From Local Authors to Take to the Beach in 2018.
Trade Nonfiction
I use words to change the world…
My award-winning trade nonfiction deals with difficult subjects with grace and humor: mental health, sexual assault, and unwanted career changes.
Praise for my nonfiction:
“In Even If You’re Broken, Katie Rose Guest Pryal deftly sews together a patchwork quilt of stories, raw emotion, and insights that will touch every reader. The result is moving, vital and somehow hopeful for survivors and society both.” –Washington Post bestselling author Kelly Harms
“A harrowing, necessary, and beautiful book.” -Kelly J. Baker, award-winning author of Sexism Ed: Essays on Gender and Labor in Academia
“Refreshingly honest.” -Award-winning author Amy Impellizzeri
“In Pryal’s work we see hope: For a kinder, more just, more capacious understanding of what it means to be human, to pursue knowledge, and to educate.” -Catherine J. Prendergast, author of Buying into English: Language and Investment in the New Capitalist World
The Hollywood Lights Series
In Hollywood, nothing is as it seems…
Follow the lives of a tight-knit group of twenty-somethings as they navigate the glitter, and the danger, of Los Angeles in these highly-praised novels.
As they fight their personal demons, Greta, Daphne, Miranda, and Charlie find love along the way. This series of standalone, romantic women’s fiction is full of suspense, family drama, deep friendship ties, and happily ever afters. With the IPPY-Gold-winning TAKE YOUR CHARMING SOMEWHERE ELSE (2021), the series is now complete.
Like all of Pryal’s writing, the series centers mental health issues—in addition to romance, star-crossed lovers, sexy woodworkers, and movie stars.
Praise for the Hollywood Lights Series
“As glamorous and mercurial as Hollywood itself, CHASING CHAOS is a novel that glitters.” -BOOKTRIB Magazine
“A gut-wrenching journey through darkness to redemption, one that proves that love, and family, can conquer anything. TAKE YOUR CHARMING SOMEWHERE ELSE is her best yet. Do not miss this emotional tour-de-force—or anything Pryal writes.” -WASHINGTON POST bestselling author Kelly Harms
“Equal parts heartbreaking and heartening, ENTANGLEMENT shines a light on the interior lives of two flawed and fascinating women.” -Camille Pagán, bestselling author of I’M FINE AND NEITHER ARE YOU
“Modern, fresh, and entirely credible, FALLOUT GIRL is a love story wrapped inside a heart-rending struggle for personal freedom.” -WASHINGTON POST best-selling author Sonja Yoerg
Books on Law and Writing
As an attorney and professor of law and creative writing, I find joy in passing my knowledge on to others.
The Complete Series for Legal Writers
The Complete Series for Legal Writers is a series of legal writing handbooks for students and practitioners written and edited by Professors Alexa Z. Chew and Katie Rose Guest Pryal of UNC School of Law. The series emphasizes a systematic and transferable approach to legal writing, which includes the genre discovery approach, citation literacy, and giving feedback. Readers can easily apply these skills to a variety of unpredictable situations. To be complete does not mean to list every possible scenario, but rather to prepare readers to encounter them.
The Core Grammar Series
Core Grammar for Lawyers (CGL 4th ed. 2020) is an online, self-directed learning tool designed to help law students, pre-law students, paralegal professionals, and practicing attorneys acquire the grammar and punctuation skills that are prerequisites to successful legal writing. It is one of the most widely adopted law school texts.
Core Grammar for College (CGC 2nd ed. 2020) teaches students the grammar that their new reading audience expects to see and is able to understand. Over 90% of students who have used CGC tell us that it is “helpful” or “very helpful” to them.
Core Grammar for STEM is forthcoming!
Free Books
These books are free for subscribers to my newsletter. There are more of them on the secret page my subscribers have access to. And, I’m always adding more. If you’re interested in reading my email letter, “Words Can Change the World,” which I send once every month or two, click pryalnews.com.
01. About Me
Award-winning author, speaker, and expert on mental health and disability.
02. Book Me
03. Letter from Me
04. Support Me
