From acclaimed novelist and essayist Fred Leebron, THE NEWS SAID IT WAS is a walloping collection of short fiction full of the dire and the outrageous, and running circles around the conventions of memory, realism and fantasy. 

From a child actor navigating superagents to relationships and love affairs small and deep to the diagnoses that upend everything fair and right, these short fictions range from the fierce to the delightful, in search of the connections we all yearn to hold close. 

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“Brilliant, imaginative, and woven from the real and gauzy strands of a rich inner life, THE NEWS SAID IT WAS is a masterful book of disillusionment and wonder. With a narrative that is both highly inventive and unabashedly authentic, this powerful collection is as mythic as it is deeply human.” – Ada Limon

More praise for Fred Leebron: 

“Fred Leebron is one of the best writers working today.” – Jenny Offill

“Fred Leebron is an American Celine; his deep distrust of sentimental convention makes his eye pitiless and exact.” – Jonathan Dee

“A sharp, intense hit of fiction from a major talent.” – Peter Ho Davies

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Fred Leebron has published novels, stories and essays. He has also co-edited two anthologies and co-authored a textbook.