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In the debut essay collection from the hosts of the hit podcast Podcrushed, Penn Badgley, Sophie Ansari, and Nava Kavelin explore what it means to come of age at every stage of our lives.

Known for spotlighting your favorite artists’ tween stories of self-discovery on their podcast, Penn, Sophie, and Nava turn inward to share their own experiences for the first time. Penn, a twelve-year-old, Discman-toting introvert, starts in the solitude of his only-child household where he danced like no one was watching (because no one was watching) before embarking on a neon-lit journey to Hollywood. Sophie takes us to her middle school in Beijing where she had to ward off rumors of a boob job, and to the moment loosening her chokehold on love brought her husband straight into her living room. Nava traces the emotional aftershocks of losing her mother and guides us through the whimsical world of an imaginationship, where nothing is ever as it seems.

With compassion, humor, and insight, Crushmore charts the often cringey, sometimes luminous path from adolescence to adulthood. Together, these essays remind us that we can find healing--and even inspiration--from our awkward adolescent selves long after we thought we left them behind.

Penn Badgley is an actor, director, producer, writer, and podcaster best known for his starring roles in the CW’s Gossip Girl and Netflix’s You. He lives in New Paltz, New York, with his wife, two children, and two dogs.

Sophie Ansari is an illustrator, video creator, and podcast host. She moonlights as a community organizer, tallying many hours each week volunteering with children on her block, and bothering her neighbors until they offer to feed her. Sophie lives in Los Angeles with her husband, David, and their baby.

Nava Kavelin is a writer and producer based in Los Angeles. She and Penn Badgley cofounded a production company, Ninth Mode, together in 2020, and Nava is CEO. Prior to her work in media, Nava was a researcher and writer at the United Nations.