Jedediah Berry at Harvard Book Store

Harvard Book Store welcomes Jedediah Berry—co-owner of Ninepin Press and author of The Manual of Detection—to celebrate the release of his new book The Naming Song. He will be joined in conversation by Holly Black— #1 New York Times bestselling author of fantasy books, including the Novels of Elfhame.

About The Naming Song 

There's nothing more dangerous than an unnamed thing

When the words went away, the world changed.

All meaning was lost, and every border fell. Monsters slipped from dreams to haunt the waking while ghosts wandered the land in futile reveries. Only with the rise of the committees of the named—Maps, Ghosts, Dreams, and Names—could the people stand against the terrors of the nameless wilds. They built borders around their world and within their minds, shackled ghosts and hunted monsters, and went to war against the unknown.

For one unnamed courier of the Names Committee, the task of delivering new words preserves her place in a world that fears her. But after a series of monstrous attacks on the named, she is forced to flee her committee and seek her long-lost sister. Accompanied by a patchwork ghost, a fretful monster, and a nameless animal who prowls the shadows, her search for the truth of her past opens the door to a revolutionary future—for the words she carries will reshape the world.

The Naming Song is a book of deep secrets and marvelous discoveries, strange adventures and dangerous truths. It's the story of a world locked in a battle over meaning. Most of all, it's the perfect fantasy for anyone who's ever dreamed of a stranger, freer, more magical world.

Praise for The Naming Song 

“At the heart of this brilliant, thrilling adventure is an exploration of the power of words to transform the way we see ourselves, our history, and our possible futures. The Naming Song understands the fundamental magic of language, and breathes that magic onto every page.” ―Holly Black, #1 New York Times bestselling author

“The Naming Song is a wonder. A masterful, marvel-filled journey of language and ghosts, of monsters and meaning and mystery. This is a haunting, glorious train ride of a novel that feels both new and old at the same time, a creature of post-apocalyptic myth.” ―Erin Morgenstern, #1 national bestselling author of The Starless Sea

“A breathlessly enjoyable tale.” —Cassandra Clare, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Sword Catcher

“Every writer, of course, must make magic out of words — but in The Naming Song Jedediah Berry makes strange and wonderful magic out of the absence of words. This book is a parade of delights and nightmares, written with the kind of incantatory precision that the truest spells are made of.” —Kelly Link, author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist Get In Trouble

Masking Policy

Masks are encouraged but not required for this event.