Tom Coyne is an award-winning and New York Times bestselling author who has been publishing golf stories since 2001. His first book was the novel A Gentleman’s Game, which was named one of the best 25 sports books of all time by The Philadelphia Daily News. He wrote the film adaptation of the novel, which starred Gary Sinise, Philip Baker Hall, Dylan Baker, and Mason Gamble. His second book, Paper Tiger: An Obsessed Golfer’s Quest to Play with the Pros was released June 2006, and was an editor’s pick in Esquire Magazine and USA Today, and a summer reading selection in The New York Times. His third book, A Course Called Ireland: A Long Walk in Search of a Country, a Pint, and the Next Tee, was published by Gotham Books in February, 2009, and it chronicles his quest to walk and golf the whole of Ireland. The book was a New York Times, American Booksellers Association, and Barnes & Noble bestseller, and won a silver medal from the Society of American Travel Writers in the category of Best Travel Book of the Year.
His anticipated follow-up to A Course Called Ireland was released by Simon & Schuster in 2018: A Course Called Scotland was an instant New York Times bestseller, and chronicles Tom’s quest to play every links course in Scotland, searching the highlands for the secret to golf and a tee time in the oldest championship in sports. Tom’s travel trilogy reaches its conclusion with the release of A Course Called America from Avid Reader/Simon & Schuster in May of 2021. The story follows Tom as he plays his way across all 50 states, searching for the great American golf course, and it landed on the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists in its first week.
Tom is Senior Editor and podcast host at The Golfer’s Journal, and has written for Golf Magazine, Golfweek, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, and numerous other publications. His Golfer’s Journal story, “The Lucky Ones” was named the best feature story of 2020 by the Golf Writers Association of America. He is also a host and writer for the travel television series, “The Links Life.” Tom earned an M.F.A. in fiction writing from the University of Notre Dame, where he won the William Mitchell Award for distinguished achievement. He lives outside Philadelphia with his wife and two daughters.
About A Course Called America
Globe-trotting golfer Tom Coyne has finally come home. And he’s ready to play all of it.
After playing hundreds of courses overseas in the birthplace of golf, Coyne, the author of A Course Called Ireland and A Course Called Scotland, returns to his own birthplace and delivers a rollicking love letter to golf in the United States.
In the span of one unforgettable year, Coyne crisscrosses the country in search of its greatest golf experience, playing every course to ever host a US Open, along with more than two hundred hidden gems and heavyweights, visiting all fifty states to find a better understanding of his home country and countrymen.
Coyne’s journey begins where the US Open and US Amateur got their start, historic Newport Country Club in Rhode Island. As he travels from the oldest and most elite of links to the newest and most democratic, Coyne finagles his way onto coveted first tees (Shinnecock, Oakmont, Chicago GC) between rounds at off-the-map revelations, like ranch golf in Eastern Oregon and homemade golf in the Navajo Nation. He marvels at the golf miracle hidden in the sand hills of Nebraska, and plays an unforgettable midnight game under bright sunshine on the summer solstice in Fairbanks, Alaska.
More than just a tour of the best golf the United States has to offer, Coyne’s quest connects him with hundreds of American golfers, each from a different background but all with one thing in common: pride in welcoming Coyne to their course. Trading stories and swing tips with caddies, pros, and golf buddies for the day, Coyne adopts the wisdom of one of his hosts in Minnesota: the best courses are the ones you play with the best people.
But, in the end, only one stop on Coyne’s journey can be ranked the Great American Golf Course. Throughout his travels, he invites golfers to debate and help shape his criteria for judging the quintessential American course. Should it be charmingly traditional or daringly experimental? An architectural showpiece or a natural wonder? Countless conversations and gut instinct lead him to seek out a course that feels bold and idealistic, welcoming yet imperfect, with a little revolutionary spirit and a damn good hot dog at the turn. He discovers his long-awaited answer in the most unlikely of places.
Packed with fascinating tales from American golf history, comic road misadventures, illuminating insights into course design, and many a memorable round with local golfers and celebrity guests alike, A Course Called America is an epic narrative travelogue brimming with heart and soul.
Laura Vanderkam is the author of several time management and productivity books, including Juliet’s School of Possibilities, Off the Clock, I Know How She Does It, What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast, and 168 Hours. Her work has appeared in publications including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, and Fortune. She is the host of the podcast Before Breakfast and the co-host, with Sarah Hart-Unger, of the podcast Best of Both Worlds. She lives outside Philadelphia with her husband and five children, and blogs at LauraVanderkam.com.
About "I Know How She Does It"
Based on a time diary study of 1001 days in the lives of women with big careers and families, this book takes an optimistic look at the question of how anyone can "have it all." The take-away? With smart strategies and mindset shifts, anyone can get more out of work and life.
Eric Smith is a literary agent and Young Adult author from Elizabeth, New Jersey.
As an agent with P.S. Literary, he’s worked on New York Times bestselling and award-winning books. His recent novels include the YALSA Best Books for Young Readers selection Don’t Read the Comments (Inkyard Press, 2020), You Can Go Your Own Way (Inkyard Press, 2021), and the anthology Battle of the Bands (Candlewick, 2021), co-edited with award-winning author Lauren Gibaldi.
His other books include the IndieBound bestseller The Geek’s Guide to Dating (Quirk), the Inked duology (Bloomsbury), and The Girl and the Grove (Flux). His writing has sold into eight languages. A lifelong lover of writing and books, he holds a Bachelor of Arts from Kean University in English, and a Master’s in English from Arcadia University, where he currently mentors MFA students. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife and son, and enjoys video games, pop punk, and crying over every movie.
About "Go Your Own Way"
No one ever said love would be easy...but did they mention it would be freezing?
Adam Stillwater is in over his head. At least, that’s what his best friend would say. And his mom. And the guy who runs the hardware store down the street. But this pinball arcade is the only piece of his dad that Adam has left, and he’s determined to protect it from Philadelphia’s newest tech mogul, who wants to turn it into another one of his cold, lifeless gaming cafés.
Whitney Mitchell doesn’t know how she got here. Her parents split up. Her boyfriend dumped her. Her friends seem to have changed overnight. And now she’s spending her senior year running social media for her dad’s chain of super successful gaming cafés—which mostly consists of trading insults with that decrepit old pinball arcade across town.
But when a huge snowstorm hits, Adam and Whitney suddenly find themselves trapped inside the arcade. Cut off from their families, their worlds, and their responsibilities, the tension between them seems to melt away, leaving something else in its place. But what happens when the storm stops?
Anne Scardino, building and design consultant-turned-novelist, has always had a passion for writing, whether it be social commentary or design and travel. But it is her twenty-three years of volunteering at the Philadelphia Ronald House that has fed her soul. Anne holds a degree in journalism from Temple University and has taken coursework at Moore College of Art and Design and The New School. An avid fan of music and travel, Anne resides in Philadelphia. Her favorite place is Turks and Caicos.
About "A Tangled Affair"
Clair Bondi makes the painful decision to divorce the only man she ever loved—Vince Bondi, her husband of twenty-five years. But Clair never gets the chance to tell Vince she is leaving him, because he is found fatally shot in his Porsche one night when driving home from his weekly tennis game. Haunted by his death, Clair is determined to help the Philadelphia police find the killer. Vince’s secret life, including an account in Turks and Caicos, forces Clair to realize that he wasn’t the man she thought he was. No longer the “good wife,” Clair’s strength and resilience take her from her darkest moment to a life unimagined—one with true love and purpose.
Lori L. Tharps is an award-winning author, freelance journalist and podcast host. Tharps is a recognized voice in the areas of race, identity politics and African American culture. She has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Glamour and Essence magazines. The author of three critically acclaimed nonfiction books, Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America (St. Martin’s Press) Kinky Gazpacho: Life, Love & Spain (Atria) and Same Family, Different Colors: Confronting Colorism in America’s Diverse Families (Beacon), Tharps uses her words to ignite social change. Tharps is also the author of the novel, Substitute Me (Atria Books).
About Hair Story: Untangling the Roots of Black Hair in America
Hair Story is a historical and anecdotal exploration of Black Americans' tangled hair roots. A chronological look at the culture and politics behind the ever-changing state of Black hair from fifteenth-century Africa to the present-day United States, it ties the personal to the political and the popular.
Major figures in the history of Black hair are presented, from early hair-care entrepreneurs Annie Turnbo Malone and Madam C. J. Walker to unintended hair heroes like Angela Davis and Bob Marley. Celebrities, stylists, and cultural critics weigh in on the burgeoning sociopolitical issues surrounding Black hair, from the historically loaded terms "good" and "bad" hair, to Black hair in the workplace, to mainstream society's misrepresentation and misunderstanding of kinky locks.
Hair Story is the book that Black Americans can use as a benchmark for tracing a unique aspect of their history, and it's a book that people of all races will celebrate as the reference guide for understanding Black hair.
Get The Word Out