Citizen Parrot
Sign In or Register Now to see if this title is available for request.
Buy on BN.com Buy on Bookshop.orgSend NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app
1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date Jul 7 2027 | Archive Date Jul 7 2027
Talking about this book? Use #CitizenParrot #NetGalley. More hashtag tips!
Description
He lost his voice. Then he gained wings.
Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Olen Butler returns with this beautifully wrought, satiric journey from the Civil War to the political frenzy of 2024.
“Daring and uncommonly beautiful literary flights of fancy. There are touches of Italo Calvino, Roald Dahl, and Gabriel García Márquez.”
—San Francisco Chronicle on Tabloid Dreams
It is a strange day when a man wakes up in the body of a barely verbal parrot. It is even stranger when the Parrot is promptly purchased by his ex-wife and brought to live in his own home with her new lover. But when his cage is left open, the Parrot soars into contemporary America—a land where everyone talks and no one listens.
From his mother who doesn’t recognize him, to a young girl who wants to adopt him, to a crow haunted by the Civil War, the Parrot collects words like ammunition in a world where discourse has gone mad.
Inspired by Butler’s acclaimed New Yorker story, Citizen Parrot is an absurd, touching, and redemptive allegory of personal and social unrest. Recalling the imaginative works of Cervantes, Twain, and Allende, this bold, picaresque journey takes us through the perils and promise of modern America.
A Note From the Publisher
Advance Praise
Praise for Robert Olen Butler
“Out of pop culture, Robert Olen Butler extracts a result that looks uncomplicated, but subtly reveals many of the preoccupations of American literature—especially loneliness, conformity and innocence.”
—The Boston Globe
“Straightforward, surreal, hilarious, shocking and ultimately very moving. . . . It’s hard to imagine another writer who could achieve such pathos, humor and intensity from such an absurd situation. . . . Playwrights come first to mind: Ionesco and Beckett.”
—St. Petersburg Times
Marketing Plan
- Pulitzer Prize–winning author; Butler's Tachyon debut and the long-awaited continuation of his most-anthologized, most-taught story, "Jealous Husband Returns in Form of Parrot"
- National print, online, and radio publicity campaign; NPR placement secured
- Positioned for literary and general fiction readers
- Print and digital ARC distribution via Edelweiss and NetGalley; physical ARC mailing to a national media list
- Targeted outreach to literary review outlets, features desks, and podcasts
- Author-written essays and excerpt placement (LitHub, Electric Literature, and regional Southern outlets)
- Author appearances at World Fantasy Convention (Oakland), Florida State University, and other venues in progress
- Trade appearances at Winter Institute, ALA, and ICFA
- Bookstore and library outreach, including an Indie Next nomination campaign
- Education and classroom outreach
- Social media campaign including cover reveal and author newsletter announcement; featured in Tachyon's seasonal catalog and newsletter
Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9781616964795 |
| PRICE | $17.95 (USD) |
| PAGES | 192 |