Desire Lines

“Kristen Millares Young will take readers along on her journey of discovery as she publishes her debut memoir this year.” —PEOPLE Magazine in its exclusive cover reveal and interview: “With Desire Lines, I hope to show the beauty and freedom we make possible when we refuse to abandon our truths.” Desire Lines was named a “Most Anticipated Feminist Book of 2026” by Ms. Magazine“Kristen Millares Young’s debut memoir explores womanhood, motherhood, liberation and embodiment with an eye toward uncovering truths that awaken and enlighten.” —Ms. Magazine“In Desire Lines, Kristen Millares Young explores womanhood, human rights, and identity with a moral imperative and artistry that few writers achieve. She is an immense literary talent, and this remarkable book should be read by all.”—Brandon Hobson, National Book Award finalist, author of The Devil is a Southpaw, The Removed and Where the Dead Sit Talking“These emotionally gripping essays delve into the complexities of familial love and obligation. Kristen Millares Young seamlessly weaves together personal experience, historical research, mythology, and cultural critique in a memoir that feels both timely and timeless. Her prose is alive with style and poetic lyricism.”—Weike Wang, winner of PEN/Hemingway and Whiting awards, author of Chemistry and Joan is Okay“In this tremendous memoir, Kristen Millares Young grips the reader’s hand and leads us into the terrifying place where all life comes from. She is intrepid, incisive. Generous and unsparing is her consideration of mothering, the ordinary and glorious act that keeps the world renewing itself. I loved this book.” —Elissa Washuta, PEN/Open Book Award finalist, author of White Magic and My Body is a Book of Rules“Kristen Millares Young is a fearless woman who will go places other writers might fear to tread. I have admired her fierce honesty and craft for a long time and am thrilled to have this explosive and daring memoir in my hands. More, please.” —Luis Alberto Urrea, Pulitzer Prize finalist, author of The Devil’s Highway“Kristen Millares Young brings a searching, generous, and unrelenting gaze to every subject she writes on, most of all herself.” —Melissa Febos, National Book Critics Circle Award winner, author of Girlhood and The Dry Season“Kristen Millares Young’s memoir Desire Lines is a sage instruction manual for how to choose love over harm, joy over despair, art over ruin. Strength and affection shine from every page. In a patriarchal world that seeks to break us, this is a defiant and triumphant howl of wholeness, both electrifying and healing.”—Sharma Shields, Washington State Book Award winner, author of The Cassandra

Kristen Millares Young is the author of the novel Subduction, named a staff pick by The Paris Review. Winner of Nautilus and IPPY awards, Subduction was a finalist for two International Latino Book Awards and Foreword Indies Book of the Year.

Her essays and reviews appear in the Washington Post, The Guardian, Literary Hub, and the anthologies Advanced Creative Nonfiction, Alone Together, and Broken Free.

A former Hugo House Prose Writer-in-Residence, she is the editor of Seismic, a Washington State Book Award finalist. Kristen was the researcher for the New York Times team that produced “Snow Fall,” which won a Pulitzer Prize. She lives in Seattle.