Blog
Celebrating Alum Ashley Whitaker's Debut Novel, Bitter Texas Honey
by Writing Workshops Staff
3 weeks ago
We're celebrating alum Ashley Whitaker today, who studied with acclaimed novelist and New York Times columnist Diana Spehler in 2023 at WritingWorkshops.com: her debut novel, Bitter Texas Honey, was published by Dutton/Penguin Random House in April 2025!
A Texas-Sized Literary Achievement
Bitter Texas Honey has been described as The Royal Tenenbaums meets Fleabag, a hilarious and dizzyingly smart debut about an over-the-top evangelical Texan family and the daughter at its center racing to finish her very important novel before her ex-boyfriend finishes his. Set in 2011 Austin, the novel follows Joan West, a twenty-three-year-old aspiring writer caught between her conservative family and her messy past, as she mines her chaotic relationships and family dysfunction for material.
Ashley Whitaker is a Texas native who received her MFA from the University of Michigan Helen Zell Writers' Program, and her work has appeared in prestigious publications like Tin House and StoryQuarterly, and has received support from the Ragdale Foundation. She currently lives in Austin with her family, continuing to write from the heart of the Lone Star State.
Critical Acclaim
Kristen Roupenian, author of Cat Person and Other Stories, calls Ashley's debut "not just wildly entertaining—it is a bullet aimed at the dead center of American hypocrisy, cruelty, and heartbreak; as brilliant, uncompromising, and timely a book as you will read this year."
National Book Award-nominated author Kimberly King Parsons describes it as "wildly offbeat and endlessly entertaining—a novel that manages to be incisive, heartrending, and hilarious all at once," praising Whitaker as "an outrageously gifted writer."
Claire Vaye Watkins, author of I Love You but I’ve Chosen Darkness, wrote: “Deadpan, hysterical, irreverent, and utterly original, Bitter Texas Honey is an exuberant debut. This zany novel murders pieties and resurrects the imagination. It reminded me of everything fiction can do.”
Publishers Weekly has called it "witty" and "compulsively readable," while Booklist praised it as "a painful, hilarious, and mind-bending look into what drives personal and societal beliefs."
The WritingWorkshops.com Connection
We're honored to have been a small part of Ashley's writing journey. Her time studying with Diana Spehler in 2023 represents just one step in what has clearly been a dedicated pursuit of literary excellence. Diana's workshop at WritingWorkshops.com focuses on helping writers find their unique voice and develop the confidence to tell their stories authentically. Ashley's journey inspires us all and reminds us why we do what we do: to help writers at every stage of their journey reach their full potential.
Your Writing Journey Starts Here
Whether you're working on your first short story or polishing your third novel, whether you write literary fiction, memoir, poetry, or creative nonfiction, WritingWorkshops.com offers the guidance, community, and expertise to help you reach your writing goals. Our online workshops, taught by published authors and industry professionals like Diana Spehler, provide the perfect environment to develop your voice, refine your craft, and connect with a supportive community of fellow writers. Who knows? The next success story we celebrate could be yours. Join us today and take the next step in your writing journey.
