
In-A-Year Student Publications
We’re proud to promote and praise our published In-a-Year alumni.
Our In-a-Year program is designed for serious writers looking for long-term support as they write their book. The program is 11 months, but the results can be felt for much longer. (While some books below are the ones the authors worked on as students, others came from subsequent projects.) Over the years, after “graduating” from the program, our students have found success at multiple levels of the publishing industry, including publication at stellar small presses and big-five houses.

Novel in a Year
Rebecca Makkai: 2015-2016
The Beauty of Your Face
W.W. Norton, 2020

Novel in a Year
Abby Geni: 2018 & 2019
Down the Steep
Regal House, 2023

Novel in a Year
Rebecca Makkai: 2019-2020
The Anchored World
Rose Metal Press, 2022

Memoir in a Year
Nadine Kenney Johnstone: 2018-2019
The Fun Master
Spark Press, 2022

Novel in a Year
Abby Geni: 2018 & 2022
You Should Have Known
Crooked Lane Books, Penguin Random House, 2023

Memoir in a Year
Nadine Kenney Johnstone: 2018-2019
Choosing Family: A Memoir of Queer Motherhood and Black Resistance
Abrams Books, 2023

Novel in a Year // Revise & Launch
Abby Geni (2018 // 2019)
Murder in the Piazza
Level Best Books, 2020

Novel in a Year
Abby Geni: 2016
Spoken
Rosehip Publishing, 2018

Novel in a Year: Young Adult + Middle Grade
James Klise: 2019
Miles from Motown
Fitzroy Books, 2021

Memoir in a Year
Kim Brooks: 2020-21
Twice a Daughter: A Search for Identity, Family, and Belonging
She Writes Press, 2023

Novel in a Year
Rebecca Makkai: 2013
Money Creek
Bold Strokes Books, 2020

Novel in a Year: Young Adult + Middle Grade
James Klise: 2017-2018
Man Up
Trism Books, 2020

Revise and Launch
Abby Geni: 2017-2018
Everyone Dies Famous
BQB Publishing, 2020

Memoir in a Year
Nadine Kenney Johnstone: 2015-2016
Plague Years: A Doctor’s Journey Through the AIDS Crisis
University of Chicago Press, 2020

Novel in a Year
Rebecca Makkai: 2015
Satellite
World Castle Publishing, 2017

Novel in a Year
Rebecca Makkai: 2013
The Window
Delacorte Press, 2018

Memoir in a Year
Nadine Kenney Johnstone: 2017-2018
Brave(ish): A Memoir of a Recovering Perfectionist
She Writes Press, 2020

Memoir in a Year
Nadine Kenney Johnstone: 2017-2018
The Fifth Season: The Chicago Tree Project
Lambert, 2019

Memoir in a Year
Nadine Kenney Johnstone: 2014-2015
Living a Motivated Life: A Memoir and Activities
Brill | Sense, 2018

Novel in a Year
Rebecca Makkai: 2017-2018
Big Problems: A Former Fat Guy’s Look At Why We’re Getting Fatter and What You Can Do to Fix It
TarcherPerigee/Penguin Random House, 2020