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By Empress Eve | @ | Monday, April 13th, 2026 at 8:00 am |
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the release of Interview With The Vampire, the beloved first book in Anne Rice‘s The Vampire Chronicles series. Now, a 50th anniversary edition of the book is coming this October from Knopf. See the new cover art here below, along with pre-order links.
The new edition will include “a foil-printed case with blood-red sprayed edges, marbled endpapers plus never-before-seen bonus pages from the original manuscript,” according to Rice’s son, Christopher Rice, who posted the news to the late author’s official Facebook page earlier this month.
Christopher Rice and Eric Shaw Quinn, both bestselling authors, manage Anne Rice’s literary estate through their production company Dinner Partners, which is also the name of their podcast about true crime TV shows. They revealed that they worked with the publisher on “designing a new cover that reconfigured the design of the original including its signature hand drawn title font.”
The new hardcover edition will include an Introduction by #1 New York Times bestselling author Leigh Bardugo, known for her Grishaverse novels, including Shadow and Bone, which was adapted into a Netflix series. Also, there will be an exclusive Afterword from Christopher Rice, which he said he wrote in November 2025 after a fan gathering celebrating the life of his mother.
I wrote a searingly emotional new afterword exclusive to this edition about the tragic family loss that inspired the novel and the powerful aftereffects of gathering in New Orleans at last as a coven to celebrate her life and legacy.
– Christopher Rice via Facebook
The “tragic family loss” he referred to is about his older sister Michele Rice, who died in 1972 of a rare form of leukemia just before her sixth birthday. It was after her daughter’s death that Anne Rice was compelled to write her debut novel, Interview With The Vampire, with Michelle being the inspiration for the 5-year-old vampire character, Claudia.
First published on April 12, 1976 by Knopf, Interview With The Vampire initially received mixed critical reviews, but quickly went on to gain cult status by the 1980s, igniting the vampire craze of the 1990s and its accompanying goth scene. The novel, which was adapted for the big screen in 1994 with Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise starring as the main vampires Louis and Lestat, respectively, went on to spawn the many sequels that now make up The Vampire Chronicles. In May 2020, AMC acquired the rights to the book series, creating two seasons for television with a third one coming in June 2026 that will cover the events of the second book, The Vampire Lestat. The third book, Queen Of The Damned, got a movie adaptation in 2002 starring Stuart Townsend as Lestat, along with singer Aaliyah as the title character in what was to be her final film role before her 2001 death.
Anne Rice passed away on December 11, 2021 in Rancho Mirage, California of complications from a stroke. She was 80 years old. She has sold nearly 100 million copies of her books, which include 37 novels published under her own and various pen names; two with her son, Christopher Rice; and one nonfiction book. Along with The Vampire Chronicles, Rice also wrote The Lives of the Mayfair Witches trilogy, which was adapted for TV by AMC, and penned three more novels in the series that cross over with The Vampire Chronicles.
The Interview With The Vampire 50th Anniversary Edition is available for pre-order now at Amazon. See the book’s entry in the Publisher’s Catalog for pre-order links to more online retailers. Release date is October 6, 2026.
The 50th anniversary edition of the spellbinding classic that started it all, from the #1 New York Times bestselling author.
This dazzling special edition features a jacket with foil and embossing, sprayed edges, designed endpapers, a new foreword from Leigh Bardugo, an afterword by Christopher Rice, and never-before-seen bonus pages from the original manuscript.
Here are the confessions of a vampire: a hypnotic, shocking, and chillingly sensual story of Louis de Pointe du Lac’s first two hundred years as one of the living dead. We begin on the night when Louis, disaffected and reluctant heir to a Louisiana plantation, is turned into a vampire by Lestat. Radiant, petulant, and powerful, Lestat becomes Louis’ companion and urges him to embrace the hungers and feelings of vampirism: the detachment, the hardened will, the “superior” sensual pleasures. As Louis struggles to retain the last residue of human feeling within him, he discovers must commit the ultimate act: to break away from his creator and discover the new world to which he belongs—whatever the cost.
This is a story of danger and flight, of loyalty and treachery, of gaining humanity and losing it, and of the extraordinary power of the senses.
Page Count: 368 pages
Cover Gallery
[Source: AnneRice.com]
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English (US) · 