Bonnie Garmus

Bonnie Garmus. Photo: Moya Nolan

#1 New York Times bestselling author of Lessons in Chemistry

How does a novelist follow a global phenomenon? If you’re Bonnie Garmus, you do something completely different—and unmistakably your own.

Her second novel, Peck & Peck, is a witty, tender-hearted satire set in 1982 New York City’s publishing world. At its center is Batter Gray, an endearing oddball with an unusual gift: an extraordinary ear for poetry. When he lands a job at Peck & Peck, the world’s most prestigious poetry quarterly, he enters a wonderfully eccentric universe of rival editors, literary intrigue, outsized personalities, and people fiercely devoted to the power of words.

The early praise has been remarkable. Oprah Daily named Peck & Peck one of the Best Books of Fall 2026; The Boston Globe says, “Prepare to be charmed,” and Booklist, in a starred review, calls it “a stunning novel.”

It follows Lessons in Chemistry, the extraordinary debut that made Garmus an international literary sensation. A #1 New York Times bestseller, the novel spent nearly two years on the bestseller list and was selected by New York Times readers as one of the 100 best books of the 21st century. Translated into more than 40 languages and honored with 16 international literary awards, it was also a Good Morning America Book Club pick, a Goodreads Choice Award winner, and the inspiration for the acclaimed Apple TV+ limited series.

Born and raised in California, Garmus studied aesthetic studies and creative writing at UC Santa Cruz, where the energy of the women’s movement and the university’s “Question Authority” spirit helped shape her worldview. Before becoming a novelist, she edited science books, wrote computer manuals, and built a decades-long career in Seattle as a copywriter and creative director specializing in science and technology.

And Lessons in Chemistry began with a spark worthy of Elizabeth Zott herself: after experiencing sexism at work, Garmus sat down at her desk and started writing. The result became one of the most remarkable literary debuts of the decade.

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