Jason Mott follows award-winning meta-novel with novel about award-winning author

AP National Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Jason Mott’s first novel since “Hell of a Book” is a kind of meta-sequel to his award-winning meta-narrative about a Black author’s haunting promotional tour. The Penguin Random House imprint Dutton announced Thursday that it has reached a deal with Mott for “People Like Us,” in which a “prize-winning Black author” embarks on a global book tour that finds him experiencing everything from invisibility and time travel to sea monsters and peacocks. “Hell of a Book,” published in 2021, won the National Book Award for fiction and was chosen for Jenna Bush Hager’s “Today” show book club.