Press Kit

OFFICIAL BIO

Arriel Vinson is a Midwesterner who writes about being young, Black, and in search of freedom. Her debut YA novel-in-verse, Under the Neon Lights, is a 2026 Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New Talent Award winner, a Reese’s Book Club LitUp selection, and a Junior Library Guild Gold Selection. Arriel earned her MFA in Fiction from Sarah Lawrence College and is a Tin House YA Scholar, Highlights Foundation scholarship recipient, and Walter Grant recipient. Her sophomore novel, If This World Were Mine, is forthcoming in spring 2027. You can connect with her on social media at @arriwrites and find her work at arriwrites.com.

Arriel is not pronounced like The Little Mermaid. The phonetic pronunciation is Arr-ee-l (rhymes with spell or bell). You can also think of it as a combination of the letters R, E, L. Another way to consider it is Are-ee-elle.

NAME PRONUNCIATION

AUTHOR PHOTO + BOOK COVER

Please click here for a high-resolution photo and cover. For my author photo(s), please credit Reece Taylor Williams.

MEDIA REQUESTS (INTERVIEWS, FEATURES, PODCASTS, & MORE)

If you’d like to feature me or Under the Neon Lights in your publication or on your podcast, please contact assistant@arriwrites.com.