“A generosity that mirror’s the poet’s gift. It is the heart inside the heart, and so it is with Kate Gale.” —Afaa M. Weaver, author, A Fire in the Hills

“The rare novel that has it all.” —Marya Hornbacher, author, Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia

“Brims with brilliance, wit, and compassion. . . . Kate Gale bleeds and breathes literature, and we’re all the better for her blood and breath.” —Douglas Manuel, author, Trouble Funk

Unable to afford rent, Mia—a community college student—lives out of her car, cleaning houses of the well-to-do in the LA area to meet her shoestring budget. Then Covid hits and everything changes.

For people living in houses and apartments, with stay-at-home jobs, the pandemic was inconvenient. For Mia and her fellow housekeeper friends—all living in their cars—the pandemic destroys the source of their frugal income.

Fortunately, gutsy, funny Mia is a determined survivor. After weeks of cutting her limited spending even further, missing meals along the way, her wealthy employers become desperate for her services again. This time, she’s determined not to let them take advantage of her as they have in the past. Her newfound confidence gives her new hope, until she discovers a dead body in a room she was assigned to clean. Sally Rooney meets Elizabeth Strout in this gripping page turner debut novel.

Download Press Release (pdf) here.

Under the Neon Sun: A Novel
by Kate Gale
978-1-953103-49-9 | Trade Paper | Three Rooms Press
$16.00 | 240 pages | 5.5” x 8.25” | TRP-113
Pub date: 4/23/24

Preorder UNDER A NEON SUN directly from Three Rooms Press or wherever fine books are sold, including:

High Praise for UNDER A NEON SUN

“Kudos on this first novel by publisher, poet and activist Kate Gale! Takes us right back to the pandemic years, highlighting the brutal division between privilege and economic necessity as we follow Mia, a college student living in her car and cleaning for the well-to-do, through the early days of the lockdown.” —Janet Fitch, author, Paint It Black

“Kate Gale has the kind of range most writers only dream of. Just as her gift as a poet and lyricist makes for sentences that shimmer and pop, her skill as a storyteller makes for tightly constructed, page-turner plots driven by characters filled with longing, beauty, and flaws. Under a Neon Sun is the rare novel that has it all.” —Marya Hornbacher, author, Wasted: A Memoir of Anorexia and Bulimia

“In the wellspring of creativity, there is sometimes a generosity that mirror’s the poet’s gift. It is the heart inside the heart, and so it is with Kate Gale. She gives out of what she feels was given to her so that we can all sit in the light of a greater gratitude.” —Afaa M. Weaver, author, A Fire in the Hills

“Whether she’s writing a poem, a lyric essay, or a novel, Dr. Kate Gale’s work always brims with brilliance, wit, and compassion. . . . She bleeds and breathes literature, and we’re all the better for her blood and breath.” —Douglas Manuel, author, Trouble Funk

Past Praise for the writing of Kate Gale

“Humble, hopeful, and defi antly human.” —San Diego Tribune

“When I open a new book by Kate Gale I know right away that there will be bravery. . . . There will be beautiful, skillful, memorable language.”  —Ilya Kaminsky, author, Dancing in Odessa and Deaf Republic: Poems

“Refining, compressing, and expanding one’s writing while in ceaseless movement is almost unimaginable. Ms. Gale deftly succeeds.”  —Concho River Review

About the Author

Kate Gale is the co-founder and managing editor of Red Hen Press, which has been publishing for thirty years in Los Angeles. She is also the author of seven books of poetry including The Goldilocks Zone and The Loneliest Girl, as well as several librettos including Rio de Sangre with Don Davis—who wrote the music to the Matrix movies. Rio de Sangre premiered at the Florentine opera. Her current opera projects are Che Guevara and Esther. Kate grew up in an intentional community. Since leaving, she has put herself through school, ultimately receiving a Ph.D. in English Literature from Claremont Graduate University. From those beginnings, she has built a press in Los Angeles, raised a family, and lived a life as a writer and publisher on the West Coast. Since 1989, she has taught writing at universities in the Los Angeles area, and has also taught publishing at Oxford, Columbia University, Harvard University, and USC, and was the President of Pen USA from 2005–2006. Currently, Kate teaches publishing and poetry at Chapman University and lives in Los Angeles.