New · February 2027
From Before Memory
Novel · Pushkin Press · Optioned for film
His first novel in English in eight years. Burial rites, fire, carnival, and an
America holding itself together with rituals from before memory.
The Young Woman and the Sea
Novel · 2025 · Published in French
His most recent novel, published first in France, where his books have sold up to
350,000 copies and he tours nearly every year.
The Darkening Land
Novel · 2023 · Published in French
De Soto's 1538–1540 expedition to La Florida, told through Cherokee creation myths —
drawing on Vann's own Cherokee heritage. Ranked #4 on Livres Hebdo's booksellers' list
of the best foreign novels, chosen by a jury of 361 bookstores.
Komodo
Novel · 2021 · French and Polish editions
A sister visits her brother in a diving paradise in Indonesia, where family
resentments surface faster than the divers.
The Higher Blue
Stories · 2020 · Published in French
Ten new short stories together with five from Legend of a Suicide.
Halibut on the Moon
Novel · 2019 · US, French, German, and other editions
The last days of a man returning to California from Alaska, descending through
memory and family — Vann's most direct reckoning with his father's life.
Bright Air Black
Novel · 2017 · Optioned for film
Medea, told from the deck of the Argo. Researched by sailing the Greek islands and
the Turkish coast — and by captaining the reconstruction of a 20-meter Egyptian ship
on the Red Sea. The seed of From Before Memory lies in this book.
Crocodile: Memoirs from a Mexican Drug-Running Port
Memoir · 2015 · Published in Spanish as Cocodrilo
A memoir of boats, borders, and bad luck in a Mexican port.
Aquarium
Novel · 2015 · Optioned for film
A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice and Kirkus Best Fiction Book of 2015,
longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award, with starred reviews in Library Journal,
Kirkus, and Booklist.
Goat Mountain
Novel · 2013 · Filming 2026, dir. Özcan Alper
A boy's first deer hunt in Northern California becomes something else entirely.
California Book Award finalist, published in 11 languages, now being made into a film
by Nar Films.
Dirt
Novel · 2012 · Winner, St. Francis College Literary Prize
Winner of the $50,000 St. Francis College Literary Prize, longlisted for the Dublin
Literary Award, a bestseller in France, published in 12 languages.
Last Day on Earth: A Portrait of the NIU School Shooter
Nonfiction · 2011 · Winner, AWP Nonfiction Prize
Winner of the AWP Nonfiction Prize, a PEN Center USA finalist, and one of the
National Book Critics Circle's 12 best small press books of 2011.
Caribou Island
Novel · 2011 · International bestseller
A marriage unraveling on a remote Alaskan lake. Published in 16 languages, on 25
best-of-the-year lists in 9 countries, read on the BBC for two weeks, shortlisted for
the Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize.
Now a film · Sukkwan Island
Legend of a Suicide
Stories · 2008 · Winner of 10 prizes · 22 languages
The international bestseller that began everything. Winner of the Prix Médicis
Étranger and Premi Llibreter for best foreign novel, the Grace Paley Prize, and a
California Book Award. More than 350,000 copies sold in France. Premiered at Sundance
2025 as the film Sukkwan Island.
A Mile Down: The True Story of a Disastrous Career at Sea
Memoir · 2005 · Bestseller
The bestselling memoir of a 90-foot boat, the open ocean, and everything that can
go wrong between them.
