Press Release – January 2011

Critically Acclaimed Writer of THE WIRE names YOUNG JUNIUS a BEST BOOK OF 2010

In a recent online article, award-winning and Emmy-nominated author George Pelecanos named small press-published YOUNG JUNIUS by Seth Harwood a Best Book of 2010.

Called the “poet laureate of the D.C. crime world” by Esquire, George Pelecanos is the author of fifteen crime novels set in and around Washington, DC and recently served as a producer, writer, and story editor for the acclaimed HBO dramatic series The Wire.

Just as The Wire won the Peabody Award and the AFI Award for its gritty, hard-hitting look at the urban, educational, and political conflicts of Baltimore, YOUNG JUNIUS brings to life the dangerous inner city housing towers of Boston. Pelecanos says of YOUNG JUNIUS: “The plot moves but you will be most taken by the complexity of the large cast of characters. Harwood does not revert to type.”

YOUNG JUNIUS tells the story of six foot tall, fourteen-year-old Junius Posey as he sets out to find his brother’s killer in a cluster of Boston’s low-income housing towers—prime drug-dealing territory. After committing a shooting to protect his friend, Junius finds himself with fifty dollars and instructions to run. Shocked by the violence he has created and yet determined to see its consequences, he returns to the towers in search of revenge and redemption.

Trenchant, devastating, and deftly choreographed, YOUNG JUNIUS has already won raves for its page-turning plot and compelling social commentary. Publishers Weekly writes: “Harwood pulls no punches, revealing not only the white death of crack cocaine but the ineffectuality of… ‘forgotten civic ideas.’ … In the end, Junius’s fate is as old as Aeschylus.” And Booklist adds: “Harwood’s cutaway view of a single bloody day in a housing project is an impressive feat . . . Harwood’s empathy runs deeply indeed.”

YOUNG JUNIUS is available from Tyrus Books in Trade Paperback ($14.95) and Hardcover ($24.95). Visit www.sethharwood.com/junius for more information.

See Pelecanos’ other Best of 2010 picks here: http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/features/georgepelecanos/etc/index.html

Find out more about George Pelecanos here: http://www.hachettebookgroup.com/features/georgepelecanos/bio/