State Champ

Revelatory and impassioned . . . Life dwindles from Angela's politicized body but not from her purpose in this sharp, incisive, and galvanizing portrait of a woman exerting her choice.

Shelf Awareness

Darkly funny, in a made-you-snort sort of way . . . a short, tight novel that goes by quickly [and offers] solidarity; a look inside the brain of a less-than-perfect woman putting her body on the line to seek justice in the face of injustice. Sure, she’s technically fictional—but in times of darkness, the liberatory power of imagination is important.

Jezebel, June Book Club Pick

A darkly funny Clarice Lispectorian tale of an abortion rights protestor.

Lit Hub

An acrobatic, harrowing marathon of cut-to-the-quick prose, with a narrator who's ferocious, funny, and wise. State Champ churns with tremendous urgency that would be, and will be, vital in any era. Hilary Plum is a breathtaking talent.

Henry Hoke, author of OPEN THROAT

Oh, this voice! Ferocious, hilarious, slippery, wise-I couldn't stop listening. Hilary Plum is one of my favorite writers working today because her curiosity about injustice and liberation is so relentless, so tender, and so alert to the fact that every single one of us is implicated in the struggle.

Leni Zumas, author of RED CLOCKS

Plum's explosive and hilarious new political novel forges a vision of our own moment in American history that will go far in explaining the insanity of now to the future. State Champ's solitary, howling voice slashes deep down into America's naked, troubled heart. A vivid, mind-blowing and soulful book.

Robin McLean, author of PITY THE BEAST

Where's the red line, sheeple? State Champ knows. A defiant punk voice, fucked up and bristling from defeats, growls her barbed protest song, so vivid and direct you can't tell when its ragged refusals transform into the limpid melodic rill of exit music and fight song. Hilary Plum has composed an athletic, poised, and complex fury, knowing of the body and leavened with foils, to remind us how to take a stand.

Eugene Lim, author of SEARCH HISTORY

Hilary Plum’s State Champ is somehow simultaneously a searing portrait of political & personal desperation, a deep anti-hagiographical investigation into how to be a person in our contemporary fascist state, and a relentlessly funny bildungsroman for the rest of us. Every time I put this book down briefly, someone else picked it up and refused to give it back until they finished, because once you start, you can’t stop. You’re next.

Andrea Lawlor, author of PAUL TAKES THE FORM OF A MORTAL GIRL

State Champ comes at you with a furious and feral intelligence, ninja slacker wit, and a reckless hope that blasts through the dim fug of contemporary politics. Hilary Plum's latest novel is a hardcore, pitch-perfect, breakout banger with a heart as big as the world, from one of our finest unsung talents. Compulsively readable.

Roy Scranton, author of LEARNING TO DIE IN THE ANTHROPOCENE

Gloriously devastating . . . it grabbed me by the throat and never let go . . . timely and prescient . . . empathetic and enraging and also gloriously written . . . [a] perceptive portrait of our dystopian present.

Kim Van Alkemade, author of ORPHAN #8 on WAMC The Roundtable’s "Book Picks"