Pulitzer winner Hernan Diaz’s ‘Ply’ to be published in September

NEW YORK (AP) — Hernan Diaz’s first novel since his Pulitzer-Prize winning “Trust” is a futuristic thriller in which a young orphan survives by stealing electricity from the grid and selling it on the black market.

Riverhead Books announced Wednesday that the 464-page “Ply” will be published Sept. 29. At least in one way, the book marks a shift from his previous work. “Trust,” published in 2022, was set around the stock market crash of 1929. Diaz’s “In the Distance,” a Pulitzer finalist in 2018, takes place in the American West in the 19th century.

“After rewriting America’s past with his two previous novels, Hernan Diaz now gives us a glimpse into the future,” Riverhead’s announcement reads in part. “’Ply’ questions the place of technology in the American experiment with a plot that grabs both heart and mind.”

In a statement released by Riverhead, Diaz said he felt as if he had “always been writing” his current novel.

“So many of my long-lasting passions come together in this book: experimental music and literature, adventure narratives, philosophy, nineteenth-century coming-of-age novels, noir fiction,” he said. “’Ply’ is also the natural continuation of my exploration of the myths that modernity produces about itself. Is this truly the age of reason? If so, what lies beyond it?”