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.
Fourteen states hold primaries today and my essay “It’s Not Your Story: Citizenship Rules for Writers Groups” goes online at Black Fox Literary Magazine. The article argues that while some literary tenets beg to be broken, writers group etiquette rules are worth following to derive the benefits and avoid the pitfalls of membership. Please leave a comment about the blog. Read more of my thoughts about writing in REFLECTIONS.
I’m happy to announce that my article “It’s Not Your Story: Citizenship Rules for Writers Groups” has been accepted for publication by Black Fox Literary Magazine. Here’s the log line: The craft essay “It’s Not Your Story: Citizenship Rules for Writers Groups” acknowledges that while some literary tenets beg to be broken, writers group etiquette rules are worth following to derive the benefits and avoid the pitfalls of membership. I’ll post the link when the essay is up and open for comments on the Black Fox blog. Read more of my thoughts about writing in REFLECTIONS.
My creative nonfiction piece “My Name Could Be Toby Gardner” is now online as the featured essay at bioStories. The essay begins: “I lost my name. Perhaps the name was never mine to begin with. In which case, will I ever own one? Or, if the name was once in my possession, can I get it back?” While you’re visiting the site, check out, like, and follow the other features at bioStories, which “offers word portraits of the people surrounding us in our daily lives, of the strangers we pass on the street unnoticed and of those who have been the most influential and most familiar to us but who remain strangers to others.” Read more about my creative nonfiction in MEMOIR.
Tens of thousands of teachers, parents, and researchers have read my books about early development and education, most notably The Intentional Teacher. I also write literary fiction for grownups: On the Shore, Tazia and Gemma, and A Brain. A Heart. The Nerve. Read more about my NOVELS and SHORT STORIES. We’re never too old to learn.
I’m happy to announce that my short story, “A Mule of One’s Own,” will be published in Orca (2020, Issue #3). Here’s the log line: “A Mule of One’s Own” is about a pack horse librarian who delivers books and hope to Kentucky’s rural families in the Depression while her own family falls apart because her job threatens her unemployed husband. Here’s the history behind the story: In the 1930s, the Works Progress Administration (WPA) funded local women to serve as “equestrienne librarians,” visiting isolated families in Kentucky’s remote hills. The women traveled miles through rutted, icy, and muddy trails to teach children and adults to read, and deliver books, magazines, and other materials, in hopes they’d have a better chance of finding employment when the economy recovered. Read more in SHORT STORIES.
I’m happy to announce that my short story “Over the Road Song” will be published by The Manhattanville Review in their January 2020 issue. Here is the log line: In “Over the Road Song,” women truckers (CB handles mothertrucker2, Grannygears, and tankertopper) from three generations have a testy debate about the pros and cons of life on the road. The story will be online at the end of the month on The Manhattanville Review website. Read more in SHORT STORIES.
“David’s Crossing,” my piece about my father’s emigration from Poland to America as a young boy, nominated for a Pushcart Prize in creative nonfiction, is now online at Ponder Review (Spring 2019, Volume 3, Issue 1).
I’m happy to announce that bioStories will publish the creative nonfiction essay “My Name Could Be Toby Gardner,” a seriocomic lament about the loss of my name in a family whose pathology included the obfuscation of their real names. Below is a photo of my parents, my brother, and myself, taken in 1951. In reference to the essay, I’ve captioned it “Gussie, Cal, Steve, and Toby, a.k.a. Kate, David, Joel, and Ann.” Read more about my creative nonfiction in MEMOIR.
Ponder Review submitted my piece “David’s Crossing,” about my father emigrating from Poland to America as a boy, to the nominating committee for the Pushcart Prize in creative nonfiction. Read more in MEMOIR.
My short story “Poppies Journal” has been accepted for publication in The Minnesota Review (November 2020, Issue 95). Here is the log line: In “Poppies Journal,” a preschool teacher observes children at play. Is the troubling behavior she records in the classroom notes an indication of their disturbed minds, or hers? Read more in SHORT STORIES.
