Elizabeth Acevedo 
With the Fire on High 
From the winner of the CILIP Carnegie Medal 2019

‘A delicious, evocative story’ THE GUARDIAN





From the author of THE POET X comes a sumptuous prose novel, perfect for fans of Angie Thomas’ On the Come Up, Justin Reynolds’ Opposite of Always and Nicola Yoon



Ever since she got pregnant, seventeen-year-old Emoni’s life has been about making the tough decisions – doing what has to be done for her young daughter and her grandmother. Keeping her head down at school, trying not to get caught up with new boy Malachi. The one place she can let everything go is in the kitchen, where she has magical hands – whipping up extraordinary food beloved by everyone.



Emoni wants to be a chef more than anything, but she knows it’s pointless to pursue the impossible. There are rules she has to play by. And yet, once she starts cooking, and gets that fire on high, she sees that her drive to feed will feed her soul and dreams too. And anything is possible.




‘With its judicious depth and brilliant blazes of writing that simmer, then nourish, With the Fire on High is literary soul food’ New York Times

Circa l’autore

Elizabeth Acevedo is the New York Times bestselling and 2019 Carnegie Medal winning author of THE POET X. She is also the winner of the 2018 National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, The Printz Award for Excellence in Young Adult Fiction, the Boston Globe-Hornbook Award Prize for Best Children’s Fiction and the Pura Belpré Award for a work that best affirms the Latinx cultural experience.She holds a BA in Performing Arts from The George Washington University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Maryland. Acevedo has been a fellow of Cave Canem, Cantomundo, and a participant in the Callaloo Writer’s Workshops. She is a National Poetry Slam Champion and resides in Washington, DC with her partner.