Upward Bound by Woody Brown Library Display Packs

Vintage is offering free display materials for Woody Brown’s vibrant and profoundly moving debut novel, Upward Bound. Each pack will include:

• Bookmarks
• 2 x posters
• Postcards
• Post-its 
• A copy of the book

About the author

In 2022, Woody Brown became the first nonspeaking autistic graduate of UCLA, where he received the English department’s top writing honours. Brown completed his MFA in creative writing at Columbia University in 2024.

Already hailed as a major new literary voice in the US press, Woody Brown’s champions include Booker winners Paul Beatty (author of THE SELLOUT) and Roddy Doyle (author of THE COMMITMENTS).

About the book

The novel takes us to sun-bleached California, to a daycare centre for Los Angeles’s disabled community.

Among the clients and staff are Carlos, a charismatic aide who lost his mother as a boy, and Jorge, who is gentle, nonspeaking and prone to escape despite Carlos’s best efforts. Tom, a beautiful young man with cerebral palsy, pines for Ann, the lifeguard for the summer who feels out of her depth. Then there’s Dave, the centre’s director. He wanted to be an actor, but finds himself on a very different path.

At the heart of Upward Bound is Walter, a recent college student returning to the company of his peers after a family tragedy. Around him, a story unfolds of friendships forged, connections missed and the dreams – some new, others almost forgotten – that shape us. With his wit, empathy and astonishing gifts as a storyteller, Woody Brown immerses us in life as we have never experienced it before.

How to order

Please place your free order below.

Orders for one pack per library only. If you are ordering more than one pack (to disperse to other libraries in your region) you need to also email  kathleen.ktorides@readingagency.org.uk to notify her of the individual library names that the packs will be used at. Alternatively, you can do individual orders for each library in the shop. Please place your order by Friday 6 March. Packs may sell out before this date.