Last Kid Books has become a Midwest oasis of imaginative, eclectic and literary writing—spiced with the edgy humor of its founder, David Benjamin.
Since launching Last Kid Books—with a burst of three titles—in April 2019, Benjamin has maintained a steady flow of fiction, memoir and essays that have accumulated more than forty honors from the independent publishing community.
Benjamin’s list of titles includes sixteen novels, a memoir and a fictional memoir, two collections of essays, two short-story anthologies and the bestselling guide to sumo, Japan’s national sport, ever published.
Benjamin’s fictional memoir, The Life and Times of the Last Kid Picked, was originally published by Random House and has been reprinted in a 2020 revised version by Last Kid Books.
Among the awards accumulated by Last Kid Books is the 2021 grand prize for literary/historical and contemporary fiction in the Midwest Book Awards for They Shot Kennedy, and in 2022 a Silver Medal in the category of humor for Fat Vinny’s Forbidden Love in the Independent Book Publishers Association’s prestigious Benjamin Franklin Awards. His 2025 essay collection, Benjamin’s Mess, swept the top honors for both Short Stories and Humor in the 2025 NYC Big Book Awards.
Four of Benjamin’s books are set in Paris, one in Tokyo, one in Brooklyn, and ten have deep roots in Wisconsin and the Midwest.
In his journalism career, Benjamin has been editor of the weekly Mansfield (Mass.) News, where he earned nine awards for editorial excellence, and editor of Tokyo Journal in Japan.
Reminiscing about a writing “habit” that dates back to the beginning of his first (unfinished) novel in third grade, Benjamin said, “When I was eight years old, I had a sense that I could write better than almost anyone I knew, including a lot of grownups. But I figured out, soon enough, that talent is a finite resource. All my life, I’ve striven to study and refine my craft, to approach every new project with trepidation and humility, and with an abiding consciousness of my audience. I’ve always written with a commitment to engage my readers, to entertain and—if I’ve done my homework—to educate.”
A full listing of Last Kid Books, with thumbnails and reviews of each, is available at www.lastkidbooks.com, along with an event calendar, updates on upcoming titles in “Last Kid News,” video interviews and other features that highlight both the books and the author.
