‘Zola’ Saga Is Now a Book Ahead of Riley Keough and Taylour Paige Movie’s Release

To correspond with the June 29 release of the wild film Zola starring Riley Keough and Taylour Paige, A24 is releasing a book version of the epic Twitter saga that inspired the movie entitled The Story. The book is a collaboration between Zola director Janicza Bravo and A’Ziah “Zola” King herself and features a foreword by Roxane Gay and an afterword by Janicza Bravo. The entire stranger than fiction and massively viral tale is contained within the pages, so be sure to grab a copy from the A24 shop before seeing the upcoming film.

If you somehow missed the Twitter story in real-time, the official synopsis of Zola should give you a slight idea of what you can expect: “Zola (Paige), a Detroit waitress, strikes up a new friendship with a customer, Stefani (Keough), who seduces her to join a weekend of dancing and partying in Florida. What at first seems like a glamorous trip full of ‘hoeism’ rapidly transforms into a 48-hour journey involving a nameless pimp, an idiot boyfriend, some Tampa gangsters, and other unexpected adventures in this wild, see-it-to-believe-it tale.”

Also starring Succession‘s Nicholas Braun and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom star Colman Domingo, Zola is set to be the indie hit of the summer. Paige spoke to Interview Magazine and explained why she was the perfect fit for the project and why Zola is definitely going to surprise some people.

“I feel like acting is such a spiritual vehicle, where the things that come to me, gently, lightly, are the things that I’m doing,” Paige said. “My soul is ready for this. With Zola, I was coming into my own as a woman. I was having agency over my body, being less self-conscious, and owning my sexuality. I’m kind of shy, but you can’t be shy to play this woman. I was being asked to show up. I just knew, ‘I’ve got to stop apologizing.’ This isn’t a woman who apologizes or asks for permission for her space. She takes up space. That’s what she did on Twitter.”