H.A Clarke author page

H. A. Clarke biography

H. A. Clarke is the pen name used by American author August Clarke for the Scapegracers young adult fantasy trilogy. Clarke was a 2019 Lambda Literary Fellow in Young Adult Fiction and studied queerness, labour and monstrosity at the University of Chicago. Their short fiction has appeared in publications including PRISM international, Portland Review and Eidolon.

The trilogy began with The Scapegracers, published by Erewhon Books in 2020. It follows Sideways Pike, an outsider and teenage witch who becomes part of a coven with three popular girls at her school. The novel combines contemporary high-school life with witchcraft, friendship and conflict with witch-hunters, and was nominated for both the Locus Award for Best Young Adult Novel and the Dragon Award for Best Young Adult or Middle Grade Novel.

The second novel, The Scratch Daughters, was published in 2022 and continues Sideways’ story after the events of the first book. It was nominated for the Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction and the Dragon Award for Best Young Adult or Middle Grade Novel.

The Feast Makers, published by Erewhon Books in 2024, concludes the trilogy as Sideways and the other Scapegracers face a gathering of covens, a witch trial and decisions about their lives beyond school. The novel was a finalist for the 2025 Locus Award for Best Young Adult Novel and the Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ+ Young Adult Literature, and was nominated for the 2025 Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book.

Clarke also writes under the name August Clarke. Their adult fantasy novel Metal from Heaven was published by Erewhon Books in 2024.