Press Kit

media, reviews, and more

Headshots

Contact Info

Official Author Headshot
credit: Carey Hough
print | web

 

Erin Bowman in her home office

credit: Erin Bowman
web only

 

Rights & Business Inquiries
Michelle Wolfson
Wolfson Literary Agency
via email

Erin Bowman
P.O. Box 178
Concord, NH 03302
or via email

Book Covers

Taken
(Taken Trilogy #1)
print | web

frozen_cover_web

Frozen
(Taken Trilogy #2)
print | web

forged_cover_web

Forged
(Taken Trilogy #3)
print | web

stolen_cover_web

Stolen 
(Taken Trilogy #0.5)
print | web

VengeanceRoad_cover_web

Vengeance Road
(Vengeance #1)
print | web

Retribution Rails
(Vengeance #2)
print | web

Contagion
(Contagion #1)
print | web

Immunity
(Contagion #2)
print | web

Kate & Jesse
(Vengeance #1.5)
print | web

The Girl and the Witch's Garden cover

The Girl and the Witch’s Garden
print | web

Dustborn Cover

Dustborn
print | web

Awards + Recognition

For Taken
• A 2014 Bank Street selection for “Best Children’s Books of the Year”
• A 2013 Goodreads Choice Award nominee for “Debut Author”

For Vengeance Road
• A YALSA “2015 Best Fiction for Young Adults” title

For Retribution Rails
• A 2018 Bank Street selection for “Best Children’s Books” of the Year
• A 2017 “Southwest Best Book of the Year”

For Contagion
• A 2019 Edgar Award Nominee for “Best Young Adult Novel”

For The Girl and the Witch’s Garden
• A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection
• A Summer 2020 Kids’ Indies Next List Pick

For Dustborn
• A YALSA “2022 Best Fiction for Young Adults” title
• A New York Public Library “2021 Best Teen Books” title
• A 2022 Bank Street selection for “Best Children’s Books of the Year”

Praise for Erin’s Novels

Taken
Frozen
Forged
Vengeance Road
Retribution Rails
Contagion
The Girl and the
Witch's Garden
Dustborn

An action-packed thrill ride from beginning to end. I devoured this in one sitting and might have gnawed a nail or two off from all the excitement. More, please!

Marie Lu, NYT bestselling author of the Legend Trilogy

A suspenseful trek. Readers will eagerly await the next installment.

Kirkus

An action-packed, emotionally charged, plot-twisting adventure. This dystopian has plenty of potential for gripping sequels.

Booklist

A dramatic work that is reminiscent of Lois Lowry’s The Giver and will appeal to fans of Suzanne Collins’s The Hunger Games.

School Library Journal

This engrossing debut novel moves at breakneck speed with puzzles to keep readers guessing and an ending that will leave them wanting more.

Shelf Awareness

This follow-up to Taken…retains plenty of the action and suspense that readers appreciate. Late developments hold great promise for more excitement and drama in the third episode.

Booklist

The strengths of this series are in the dystopian world and survival aspects. Frozen will attract most readers of science fiction—especially those looking for a male lead.

VOYA

A surfeit of enemies and a constant sense of danger heighten the suspense; it’s an almost grueling read.

Kirkus

A satisfying culmination to this dystopian-thriller trilogy, and sure to please series fans.

Booklist

Gripping.

Kirkus

⭐️ An unflinchingly bloody tale of the Wild West…Thoroughly engrossing.

Publishers Weekly, starred review

A vivid portrait of a lawless world…The book demands the same stoicism from its readers as the heroine herself possesses.

School Library Journal

Refreshingly believable. Readers will be entranced by Bowman’s swiftly paced, romantic revenge drama.

Booklist
Rich in tone and action… a beautiful blend of justice and coming-of-age drama.
RT Book Reviews

Fast-paced [and] entertaining.

VOYA

Thrilling, racing, action-packed…Vengeance Road will have you looking at the West in a whole new light.

TeenReads.com

A story of grit, love, and deadly revenge that climbs off the page and into your heart–saddle up for a thrilling, harrowing ride!

Alexandra Bracken, #1 NYT bestselling author of Passenger
Vengeance Road had a bit of everything I love most in storytelling: a kick-butt heroine, life-or-death stakes, action to make my heart pound, and morals that go gray around the edges. This is the kind of book I’ll re-read again and again.
Susan Dennard, NYT bestselling author of Truthwitch
Gold madness, a good-for-nothing posse, and frontier justice: Vengeance Roadis everything you could want in a Western.
Jodi Meadows, NYT bestselling author of My Lady Jane

Vengeance Road is a page-turning, unputdownable story of revenge. Bowman paints a thrilling, vivid picture of 1877 Arizona, and Kate is a heroine to be reckoned with.

Jessica Spotswood, author of The Cahill Witch Chronicles
Gritty and honestVengeance Road captures the heart of the Wild West.
Mindy McGinnis, author of Not a Drop to Drink
A take-no-prisoners heroine with a bloody debt to settle. I’m still breathing in the dust and hot Arizona sun.
Megan Shepherd, author of The Madman’s Daughter
Relentlessly readableVengeance Road is a perfect western. You won’t be able to turn in until you get to the very last page!
Saundra Mitchell, author of The Springsweet
Flinty and fierce, Kate is a formidable addition to the pantheon of tough young adult heroines. Her story and voice crackles to life.
A.C. Gaughen, author of the Scarlet trilogy
Bowman does the Arizona Territory justice, making this desolate and tough landscape the perfect setting for a train robbery gone wrong.
School Library Journal
Bowman’s attention to period details, sexism, and racism flesh out the fast-paced plot in a most satisfying way. Readers of Vengeance Road will especially enjoy reconnecting with the protagonists of that title…but this stands successfully alone.
Booklist
[E]ntertaining.
Kirkus

I devoured this thrilling, fast-paced battle, from its setting in the American West to its cast of vivid characters.  I can’t wait for Erin Bowman’s next work!

Tamora Pierce, NYT bestselling author

To read Retribution Rails is to breathe in snow-dusted plains, to feel a train car rocking beneath your feet, to seek a revenge more precious than gold. Erin Bowman has woven a world as convincing as it is gripping. I flew through these pages with abandon, and I’m certain many readers will find themselves doing the same.

Ryan Graudin, author of Wolf by Wolf

Everything I want in a wild west adventure—gunfights, robberies, train jobs, blackmail, stagecoach chases, outlaws, Nellie Bly references—and so much more. Helmed by two vivacious narrators you can’t help but root for, Erin Bowman stages a truly transportive adventure tale with a deft hand. Twisting, thrilling, and a wild ride from start to finish.Prepare to be hooked.

Mackenzi Lee, NYT bestselling author of The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue

Rugged and ruthless, Retribution Rails brings readers into the expanding—and lawless—Wild West.

Mindy McGinnis, author of Not a Drop to Drink

⭐ First in a duology, this horror-tinged sci-fi thriller unfolds from multiple viewpoints via a kaleidoscopic narrative, developing characters while escalating pace and ratcheting up tension. Bowman’s plot is intricate and action-packed, her worldbuilding impressive yet economical, and the book climaxes in a gripping cliffhanger that sets up the sequel.

 Publishers Weekly, starred review

[A] twisting, turning, edge-of-your-seat blend of science fiction, thriller, and horror. The pace, action, and tension are explosive from page one.

Booklist
A search-and-rescue mission on a hostile planet results in a horrific discovery in this dread-filled sci-fi thriller…A solid, creepy page-turner.
Kirkus
A fast-paced story with capable female protagonists, limited gore, and an emphasis on survival rather than romance.
School Library Journal
Gripping, thrilling and terrifying in equal measures, Contagion is the perfect intersection of science fiction and horror—I couldn’t look away.
Amie Kaufman, NYT bestselling author of Illuminae and Unearthed
Few understand the true horror that lies in the empty unknown of space, but Erin Bowman nails it in ContagionRead this one with the lights on!
Beth Revis, NYT bestselling author of the Across the Universe series and Star Wars: Rebel Rising
Contagion is everything I want in my science fiction: a cast of smart characters on a desperate rescue mission forced to confront an elusive and unstoppable enemy. I absolutely loved this layered and thrilling adventure and can’t wait to dive back into this world again.
Veronica Rossi, NYT bestselling author of the Under the Never Sky series

Bowman creates an adventure story featuring a plucky heroine who shoulders heavy emotional burdens while facing an ethical dilemma…The book’s strength is its grounding in reality, both in its modern-day setting and in its limitation of magic as a problem-solver.

Booklist

The writing is smooth, and Piper’s dialogue with the children and her mother purposefully advances the plot. [T]ension … electrifies the story.

School Library Journal

A big, spooky house, a likable bunch of capable kids, and a refreshing (if bittersweet) acceptance of the fact that there are some things not even magic can fix.

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
As enchanting as it is wise, the true magic of this secret garden story is in its unflinching, heart-wrenching exploration of grief, belonging, and inner strength. Once I stepped into the witch’s garden with Piper, I did not want to leave.
Jessica Khoury, author of The Mystwick School of Musicraft

Piper Peavey is a protagonist all her own in a spellbinding story that has a touch of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children and a dab of Circus Mirandus.

Quinn Sosna-Spear, author of The Remarkable Inventions of Walter Mortinson

Magical and mysterious, a captivating read from start to beautiful end.

Megan Frazer Blakemore, author of The Water Castle and The Story Web

This book has strong Secret Garden vibes with a magical twist and a plot that races. Erin Bowman has penned a must read for middle graders!

Nicole Cousins, Still North Books & Bar

A creepy house, a daring rescue, a magic portal, a secret garden—this book has everything that the best books of my childhood had.

Megan Szmyd, Old Firehouse Books

Erin Bowman has woven a wonderful tale full to the brim with characters you’ll want to follow far beyond the last page.

Alicia Michielli, Talking Leaves Books

I loved getting lost in this story and can’t wait to share it with fans of other kids’ classics old and modern, from The Secret Garden to Harriet the Spy to Three Times Lucky and Nevermoor.

Melissa Oates, Fiction Addiction

⭐ Bowman sets high expectations and meets them in this standalone worthy of all YA shelves. An impeccably crafted dystopian.

School Library Journal, starred review

Intense, gritty, and propulsive… Will keep readers turning the pages.

Kirkus

Bowman skillfully portrays the privation and grief that Delta bears, alongside her determination to overcome each obstacle. Absorbing world-building propels this fast-paced adventure, which has crossover appeal and series potential.

Publishers Weekly

[A] harrowing journey across the dust…  A burgeoning romance with an old friend and a dramatic reveal towards the end give way to a satisfying ending, sure to please readers.

Booklist

Richly drawn, with harrowing escapes from dust storms across parched land and a general sense of blistering doom…Readers will be left to ponder the sometimes warring forces of hope and truth—right after they find a cool drink of water.

The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

[A] captivating post-apocalyptic YA thriller.

Shelf Awareness

With its unforgettable blend of science fiction, dystopia, and Old West, Dustborn is one of those stories that stays branded to your heart long after you turn the final page. Prepare to be transported.

Jodi Meadows, New York Times bestselling author of My Plain Jane and the Fallen Isles Trilogy

Official Author Bio

Erin Bowman is the critically acclaimed author of numerous books for children and teens, including the Taken Trilogy, Vengeance RoadRetribution Rails, the Edgar Award-nominated Contagion duology, The Girl and the Witch’s Garden, and Dustborn. Her books have been published in numerous foreign territories. A web designer turned author, Erin has always been invested in telling stories—both visually and with words. Erin lives in New Hampshire with her husband and children.

Longer Bio »