The Northwestern alumna who signed a book deal during her senior year to publish the popular “Divergent” trilogy will release the series’ third and final chapter Tuesday.
Veronica Roth (Weinberg ’10), a graduate of NU’s creative writing program, is set to release “Allegiant,” which will end a young adult trilogy that began in 2011 with “Divergent.” The second book in the series, “Insurgent,” was released May 2012.
The series is set in a dystopian version of Chicago and chronicles the trials and tribulations of a teenage girl who leaves her family for a different faction.
By Monday night, “Allegiant” had reached No. 1 on Amazon’s bestsellers list. As of Oct. 8, it was outselling “Mockingjay,” the final book in the “Hunger Games” series, by a ratio of five to one when compared with “Mockingjay” sales one month before its release.
A film based on the first book in the series, starring Shailene Woodley, Kate Winslet and Tony Goldwyn, is scheduled to be released in March.
English Prof. Averill Curdy, who directed the honors seminar for creative writing majors when Roth was graduating from the program, said Roth’s work stuck with her.
“It’s very unusual that I keep thinking about a piece past the point when I’ve read it, commented on it and handed it back,” Curdy told The Daily when Roth signed the deal. “The novella Veronica was working on really stuck with me.”
Roth, who lives in the Chicago area, will hold an event Saturday in Downers Grove, Ill., to promote the release of “Allegiant.” She told The Daily in 2010 that she puts aside her shyness for publicity.
“I’m not generally someone who enjoys having the attention focused on her,” she said. “But it’s exciting too. How many people get a chance to go places and talk about their books?”
Roth said in a University news release that the creative writing program taught her to tone down her writing.
“The first story I wrote at Northwestern had all these crazy car accidents and things,” she said. “I learned how to quiet down, how to write clearly and how to construct stories that were subtle and not so heavy-handed.”
— Joseph Diebold
