Last December, Albert Borris suffered a massive stroke—and though he’s managed to make a full physical recovery, Borris still has a severe case of aphasia, a neurological condition that affects his ability to communicate with others by disordering his language between thought and expression, in his case hampering both speech and writing. That makes promoting his debut novel, Crash Into Me, an impossible task—but his friends in the Class of 2K9, a group of nearly two dozen YA and middle grade authors making their publishing debuts this year, are determined to spread the word about Borris’ novel.
We’ve long believed that it’s as important for authors to promote their colleagues as it is to promote their own work; from the broadest possible perspective, anything that keeps a “culture of readers” thriving benefits all writers. But we’re truly moved to see how the Class of 2K9 has come together to help another writer when he needs it most.