Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back is a paperback junior novelization for Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back. It was released on May 4, 2017, in honor of the 40th anniversary of A New Hope's theatrical release. The book is a reprint of the Star Wars Legends novel Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (junior novelization), which was written by Ryder Windham, edited by Egmont editor Emil Fortune to make the book fit with the current new canon.