A suspenseful, wildly engaging debut novel by the award-winning author of Rainbow Rainbow, following a musician spiraling in self-doubt and self-searching after a night--and a...

A suspenseful, wildly engaging debut novel by the award-winning author of Rainbow Rainbow, following a musician spiraling in self-doubt and self-searching after a night--and a relationship--gone wrong

Songs of No Provenance tells the story of Joan Vole, an indie folk singer forever teetering on the edge of fame, who flees New York after committing a shocking sexual act onstage that she fears will doom her career. Joan seeks refuge at a writing camp for teenagers in rural Virginia, where she's forced to question her own toxic relationship to artmaking--and her complicated history with a friend and mentee--while finding new hope in her students and a deepening intimacy with a nonbinary artist and fellow camp staff member.

A propulsive character study of a flawed and fascinating artist, Songs of No Provenance explores issues of trans nonbinary identity, queer baiting and appropriation, kink, fame hunger, secrecy and survival, and the question of whether a work of art can exist separately from its artist.

Author: Lydi Conklin
Publisher: Catapult
Published: 06/03/2025
Pages: 368
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.19lbs
Size: 8.52h x 6.03w x 0.95d
ISBN: 9781646222513


Review Citation(s):
Foreword 04/21/2025
Booklist 05/01/2025 pg. 32
Kirkus Reviews 05/15/2025
Publishers Weekly 05/26/2025
BookPage 06/01/2025

About the Author
LYDI CONKLIN is the author of Rainbow Rainbow, which was long-listed for the Story Prize and the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Short Story Collection. Their fiction has appeared in Tin House, American Short Fiction, and The Paris Review. They've drawn comics for The New Yorker, The Believer, Lenny Letter, and other publications. Songs of No Provenance is their first novel.