Paradise Logic, a debut novel by Writing alumna Sophie Frances Kemp ’23 will be published by Simon & Schuster and Scribner UK in the spring of 2025.
Paradise Logic follows 23-year-old Reality Kahn, a highly optimistic waterpark commercial actress and aspiring notary who wishes to become the world’s best girlfriend.
In this picaresque novel, Reality––while indulging in psychopharmaceuticals––closely follows the womens’ magazine Girlfriend Weekly as she emulates rituals of femininity and dating to fulfill her aims. On her journey, Reality’s social performance becomes increasingly disturbing and she faces trials and tribulations, though she continues to yearn for human connection.
“Paradise Logic is laugh-out-loud funny, outrageously smart and slightly bonkers,” says Scribner’s Publishing Director, Sophie Missing. “Sophie Frances Kemp is a serious talent and I’m so happy to be publishing her genre-disrupting debut in the UK.”
“I’m so excited to have found such a great home for my novel with Simon & Schuster and Scribner UK and for all the mentorship I had in the Columbia Writing Program,” said Kemp writes in an email. “I can't wait to share my weird little book with the whole world and am so grateful for my wonderful editors, agent, and Columbia friends and professors.”
Sophie Frances Kemp received an MFA from Columbia in October where she is currently working as an undergraduate professor. Her work appears in The Baffler, GQ, New York Magazine, and The Paris Review.
