Ann S. Epstein writes novels, short stories, memoir, essays, and poems. Please use the links or site menu to go to the HOME PAGE; learn about her NOVELS, SHORT STORIES, MEMOIR, ESSAYS, and POEMS; find interesting facts in BEHIND THE STORY; read REFLECTIONS on writing; check NEWS for updates on publications and related events; see REVIEWS; learn about her END-OF-LIFE DOULA credentials and services; and CONTACT US to send webmail.
Thanks to the 35th annual Ann Arbor Jewish Book Festival for hosting an event with seven local authors on November 13, 2022, including me reading from One Person’s Loss. The receptive crowd of 60 attendees enjoyed free bagels and presentations on a diverse range of books. Read more about my book in NOVELS.
As Halloween approaches, I’m chilled that my first ghost story, “Famine,” will be published in the CultureCult Magazine haunted house anthology HAUS. In “Famine,” a single mother of Irish descent, worried how she’ll feed her daughter in the aftermath of the 2008 economic collapse, is visited by the ghosts of two immigrants who lived in her Bronx apartment: one whose daughter died in 1847 during the Irish potato famine and another who came with her daughter in 1970 during The Troubles. Given how I strive to “nail the ending” in my writing, I was especially gratified when the editor wrote, “The last line brought me to tears.” Read more in SHORT STORIES.
Thanks to Booksweet in Ann Arbor for hosting a wonderful event on October 21, 2022 that featured four local authors, including me reading an excerpt from One Person’s Loss. Thanks as well to the audience for their warm reception and thoughtful questions, and to my fellow authors — vegan cookbook writer Vicki Brett-Gach, and poets Jihyun Yun and Frances Kai-Hwa Wang — for their wise and funny words. Read more about my book in NOVELS. Support independent bookstores in your own community. They’re an irreplaceable asset. Why writers write: “I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn” (Anne Frank). Why writers read: “Reading brings us unknown friends”(Honoré de Balzac).
The one-a-day micro-fiction journal 50 Give or Take published another of my stories, “Accidentally,” words to ponder for those who ask, “What is she waiting for?” October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, first declared in 1989. Sign up to receive and submit your own ultra-short stories, free, at 5o Give or Take.
Several book readings, signings, and discussions for my new novel, One Person’s Loss, are scheduled in the upcoming weeks and months. Please stop by if you’re in or near Southeast Michigan. For more information and updates see the Events listed at the top of the NEWS page. Learn more about the book in NOVELS.
WHAT: One Person’s Loss book signing (Free and open to all)
WHEN: Saturday, September 24, 2022 from 6:30 to 7:30 PM Eastern Time
WHERE: Schuler Books, Westgate Shopping Center, 2513 Jackson Avenue, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48103
EVENT WEBSITE: Schuler Books Celebrates its 40th Anniversary
EVENT FACEBOOK PAGE: Schuler Books Events
WHAT: One Person’s Loss book reading and signing (Free and open to all; RSVP on website)
WHEN: Friday, October 21, 2022 from 7:30 to 9:00 PM Eastern Time
WHERE: Booksweet, Courtyard Shops, 1729 Plymouth Road, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105
EVENT WEBSITE: Local Authors Night at Booksweet: Readings from Four Authors
EVENT FACEBOOK PAGE: BookSweet Events
WHAT: One Person’s Loss book talk and signing (Free and open to all)
WHEN: Sunday, November 13, 2022, from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM Eastern Time
WHERE: Jewish Community Center, 2935 Birch Hollow Drive, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48108
EVENT WEBSITE: Ann Arbor Jewish Book Festival
EVENT FACEBOOK PAGE: Jewish Community Center of Greater Ann Arbor Events
I’m happy to announce that 50 Give or Take has published another piece of my micro-fiction, “What’s in There?”. I dedicate this work to all older siblings, although I happen to be a younger sib.
Lucy by the Sea by Elizabeth Strout is due out on September 20, 2022, the same day that my new book One Person’s Loss will be published. Strout’s previous novel, Oh, William! was released on October 19, 2021, the same day as my last book, The Great Stork Derby! A recent New York Times “What to Read” profile says that the 66-year-old Strout has hit her stride and is on a roll. Ditto the 75-year-old Ann S. Epstein!
My creative nonfiction essay “Riley and Lucille” will appear in the Winter 2022 issue of The Blue Mountain Review, published by The Southern Collective Experience. Written on the eve of surgery to save my right eye, “Riley and Lucille” ponders how my habit of naming ailing body parts is a tool to confront, communicate, laugh about, and adapt to the physical challenges of aging. I’ll post the link when the essay is published. Read more in MEMOIR.
An excerpt from the first chapter of my upcoming novel One Person’s Loss was published in the August 2022 issue of Washtenaw Jewish News, a free publication with a circulation of 4,000 households and a readership of 10,000 in Washtenaw County, Michigan. Thanks to WJN editor, Clare Kinberg. If you don’t get a print copy, read the WJN August issue online. The excerpt is on page 23. The story: It’s 1937. Jewish newlyweds flee Nazi Germany for Brooklyn, admonished by their parents to have children to “save our people.” More about the book in NOVELS. Enjoy. Share. Read the whole book when it’s published in September 2022. Thanks!
I’m happy to announce that 50 Give or Take has published another piece of my micro-fiction. Read “Untitled Country Song” for a teary-eyed chuckle. Methinks that when I wrote this story, I was taking a nostalgia trip to my country-western dancing and bar-hopping days of the early 1980s. Anyone else a recovering Urban Cowboy fan?