In 1993, Elizabeth McCracken quietly published Here's Your Hat What's Your Hurry, a collection of short stories she'd worked on at the Iowa Writers Workshop whose characters were all the unlikely targets of love's stray arrows. This summer The Giant's House, her debut novel about a lonely librarian who takes her heart off the shelf for the "overtall" eleven-year-old boy she meets at the circulation desk, brought Elizabeth's peculiar notion of romance to the attention of the literary community. Granta named her one of the Best Young American Novelists, the National Book Award judges included her in their select list of finalists, and the critics raved. In this issue, Bold Type gets an inside look at the thirty-year-old author's personal "Desiderata," features an exclusive recording of Elizabeth's NBA finalist reading The Giant's House, and talks with her editor, Susan Kamil, about what it's like to work with one of the scene's hottest rising stars. Photo Credit: Larry Weissman Send us comments