“Funny and charmingly ridiculous.”

KIRKUS REVIEWS

The Art of Fucking Up

“Funny and charmingly ridiculous.”

KIRKUS REVIEWS

“Cate Dicharry ups the ante on the campus novel, delivering a hilarious and often bloody tale of administrative derring-do. This is a sharp, big-hearted debut by a writer with talent to burn.”

JIM GAVIN, AUTHOR OF MIDDLEMEN

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IT’S WAR AT THE SCHOOL OF VISUAL ARTS, AND NOBODY’S ART IS SAFE. NOT EVEN JACKSON POLLOCK’S.

Your archenemy taunts you with clandestine bacon frying. Your boss feverishly cyberstalks an aging romance novel cover model. Your husband unexpectedly takes in a wayward foreign national. Your best friend reveals a secret relationship with your longstanding workplace crush.

Welcome to the life of Nina Lanning, lone and floundering administrator of a prestigious Midwestern art school. Her colleagues are pioneers of contemporary art movements, inspirational orators, creative virtuosos and the source of constant headaches as they rage against the authority Nina represents. They also happen to be her closest friends.

When once-a-century flooding threatens to destroy the art building, and the priceless Jackson Pollock trapped inside, Nina and her ragtag band of faculty members undertake to rescue the early work of the splatter master. Propelled by disasters both natural and personal, Nina must confront her colleagues, her husband, and most importantly, herself. Cate Dicharry’s debut novel is a painfully hysterical examination of what is truly worth saving, and mastering the art of letting go.

PRAISE FOR THE FINE ART OF FUCKING UP

“Dicharry’s comic timing is unimpeachable and though her characters are idiosyncratic and quirky, they are deeply dimensional and exceptionally real. A richly complicated and rewarding novel.”

JILL ALEXANDER ESSBAUM, AUTHOR OF HAUSFRAU

“Cate Dicharry has an unwaveringly merciless eye for the bogus aspects of art school. But you don’t ​need a​ BA in Painting or Performance Studies to enjoy the screwball comedy of The Fine Art of Fucking Up. ​An affectionate yet unsparing view of how easy it is to lose one’s way.”

SARA LEVINE, AUTHOR OF TREASURE ISLAND!!!

“How thoroughly The Fine Art of Fucking Up sucked me in, and how, like good books tend to do, this novel operated by some kind of clairvoyant book magic: This is exactly the book you need to read right now; this is your life, but enough not your life to see it clearly. Good job. Keep reading.”

KAILYN MCCORD, QUAINT MAGAZINE

“The title of this book will not lead you astray: fucking up happens here, in spectacular, delightfully, absurdly over-the-top fashion. Cate Dicharry’s debut is a smart and tremendously fun read, and I rooted for Dicharry’s Nina Lanning and her colleagues to pull off their crazy escapade all the way.”

ELIZABETH CRANE, AUTHOR OF WE ONLY KNOW SO MUCH

Events

APRIL 10

Minneapolis

Launch party at The Local

APRIL 15

Chicago

City Lit Books

APRIL 18

Los Angeles

Los Angeles Times Festival of Books

APRIL 22

San Francisco

Green Apple Books on the Park

APRIL 23

Los Angeles

Skylight Books

MAY 3

Iowa City

Prairie Lights

MAY 7

St. Louis

Left Bank Books

Cate Dicharry

CATE

Cate Dicharry graduated from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, OR with a BA in Political Science in 2003. Cate moved to China to teach English at Dalian Nationalities University and discovered a love for creative writing. Cate went on to earn an MFA in Creative Writing from the Low Residency Program at the University of California, Riverside. Cate lives in Iowa City with her husband and two small sons. The Fine Art of Fucking Up is her first novel.

CONTACT

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Representation: Hill Nadell Literary Agency
Publicity inquiries: Olivia Smith at Unnamed Press

©Copyright 2023 Cate Dicharry. All Rights Reserved.