Lauren Morrow

LITTLE MOVEMENTS

Random House

September 9, 2025

ORDER

“Morrow’s debut shines with snappy dialogue, spot-on status details, and lovely writing about dance and creativity.”—Oprah Daily

About

Lauren Morrow

Lauren Morrow studied dance and creative writing at Connecticut College and earned an MFA in fiction from the University of Michigan's Helen Zell Writers' Program. She was a Kimbilio Fellow, an Aspen Words Emerging Writer Fellow, and the recipient of two Hopwood Awards, among other prizes. Her writing has appeared in Ploughshares and The South Carolina Review. She worked in publicity at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and is now a publicity manager at Dutton, Plume, and Tiny Reparations Books. Originally from St. Louis, she lives in Brooklyn.

About Little movements

Random House, September 9

PREORDER

A page-turning, tenderhearted debut about a Black woman who is finally given a chance to pursue her dream of becoming a renowned choreographer, only to find that it comes at a tremendous personal cost.

Layla Smart was raised by her pragmatic Midwestern mother to dream medium. But all Layla’s ever wanted is a career in dance, which requires dreaming big. So when she receives a prestigious offer to be the choreographer-in-residence at Briar House, an arts program in rural Vermont, she leaves behind Brooklyn, her job, her friends, and her husband to pursue it.

Navigating Briar House and the small, white town that surrounds it proves difficult—Layla wants to create art for art’s sake and resist tokenization, but the institution’s director keeps encouraging Layla to dig deep into her people’s history. Still, the mental and physical demands of dancing spark a sharp, unexpected sense of joy, bringing into focus the years she’d distanced herself from her true calling for the sake of her marriage and maintaining the status quo. Just as she begins to see her life more clearly, she discovers a betrayal that proves the cracks in her marriage were deeper than she ever could have known. Then Briar House’s dangerously problematic past comes to light. And Layla discovers she’s pregnant. Suddenly, dreaming medium sounds a lot more appealing.

Poignant, propulsive, and darkly funny, Little Movements is a novel about self-discovery, about what we must endure—or let go of—in order to realize our dreams.

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Praise for little movements

“With comic verve, Morrow’s novel dances on the page as she explores the dilemma of being a Black artist who is expected by traditionally white arts organizations to represent their notions of Blackness.” —LA Times

“Morrow’s debut shines with snappy dialogue, spot-on status details, and lovely writing about dance and creativity.” —Oprah Daily

"Lauren Morrow’s smart, incisive and hilarious debut, is an ode to the creative process and to people everywhere who feel the pull to take a risk and try something new...I have never read a book quite like this one...It’s been awhile since I enjoyed a book so much." —Minnesota Star-Tribune

"A story told with sharp dialogue and beautiful writing.” —People magazine

“Morrow’s tender debut traces a Black woman’s rocky path to becoming an artist. Morrow leavens the heavy themes of grief, insecurity, and racism with Layla’s sharp, self-deprecating humor. It’s a poignant tale of self-fulfillment.” —Publisher’s Weekly

“A thoughtful, engrossing first novel.” —Kirkus Review

"We were enraptured by this gorgeously written debut novel about navigating the intersection between life, creativity, and expectations." —Apple Books, Best Books of September

“A book oozing with soul. Morrow’s story about a Black dancer in a white dominated space leaps off the page as she balances exploring ambition, representation, and identity.” —Debutiful, Most Anticipated Debut Books of 2025

“Little Movements is a triumph—a story of self-discovery and reinvention that's written with energy and distinctness, humor and heart. Lauren Morrow is a writer I'd follow anywhere.” —Julie Buntin, author of Marlena

“A sparkling debut, incisive and funny, moving and startlingly real. Morrow's voice will linger in your head whenever you aren't reading and beckon you back to Layla, her world, her troubles and triumphs. A novel that is not to be missed.” —Naima Coster, author of What’s Mine and Yours

"Constantly surprising and darkly hilarious, Little Movements traces the heartbreaks and triumphs of the Black artist's life, with a sharp eye on what lurks behind an opportunity and how to make the most of it anyway. A pitch-perfect satire for our socio political moment." —Dawnie Walton, author of The Final Revival of Opal & Nev

“With writing as moving, exhilarating, nuanced and compelling as dance itself, Little Movements is gorgeously imagined and deeply important. It is the kind of book whose details are so correct and meaningful—about love, art, race, family, loneliness and love— that they will break your heart and put it right back together again. I will never forget this one. Ever.” —Jessica Soffer, New York Times bestselling author of This Is A Love Story

“With an ambitious choreographer at its center, Lauren Morrow's debut details the everyday struggle of balancing the personal and professional, while also urging us to take charge of our own narratives, inhabit space as our full selves, and resist the pressures to conform, no matter the cost. If you've ever felt out-of-sync, this is a necessary reminder that though missteps and stumbles are inevitable, they're only a part of life's wondrous dance. A beautifully wrought tribute to all that inspires us to move." —Mateo Askaripour, New York Times bestselling author of Black Buck

“Lauren Morrow writes about dance as only a dancer could — energy boundless, words pulsing on the page. In her capable hands, every movement — like a moment, or a friendship, or a city— becomes as expansive and perilous as young love. Little Movements is a book that captures the pitfalls, and the explosive joy, of making art while Black.”—Rob Franklin, author of Great Black Hope

“Morrow writes of the artistic life with such lived-in intimacy. Best and most bracing of all, though, what makes Little Movements so necessary, is her deeply thoughtful, deeply felt examination - by turns frustrated, furious, and frank - of what it means to be an artist of color amid the constant pressure of representation.” —Peter Ho Davies, author of The Fortunes