Ethel Rohan

There were dark times I did not think this day would come, but I persisted. I’m elated and grateful to have my second novel forthcoming from TriQuarterly Books. With deep thanks to my editor, Marisa Siegel.

I’m delighted to partner with Bookshop West Portal and curate their first-ever national book subscription service. I’ll choose six new Irish books of fiction or nonfiction over 12 rolling months and write a letter to go with each title, sharing why I picked it and how I hope the read will also captivate subscribers.

Feel free to let me know about forthcoming titles by Irish and Irish diaspora writers, especially underrepresented voices (LGBTQ+, women, refugees, immigrants, working class, Pavee, writers of color, writers with disabilities/chronic illness). In addition to my picks, my letter and Bookshop West Portal’s website will include recommendations for those titles that make my subscription shortlist.

Already on my radar are forthcoming books from Bono, Emma Donoghue, Colm Tóibín, Claire Keegan, Louise Kennedy, Michelle Gallen, Sarah Gilmartin, Karl Geary, Sebastian Barry, and Robert Harris. Who am I missing?

I’d love you to join me on this reading journey. For more information and to subscribe, go here: https://www.bookshopwestportal.com/irish-readers-book-subscription-page.

I shrieked. I danced. I gave deep thanks. Thrilled to see my short story collection flashed on national TV. It’s way more thrilling to see what two brilliant minds and beautiful spirits can accomplish together. I highly recommend this 7 minute segment that aired on PBS NewsHour Friday night and featured the extraordinary Wendy MacNaughton, Caroline Paul, and Draw Together Studio.

Please join us on Monday, January 24 at 5pm Pacific for an update on the Writers Grotto new San Francisco location, Fellowship Program, and Membership details.

It’s also a PARTY. I’m excited to share (virtual) space with my fellow Writers Grotto 2021 authors. Please join us. It has proved especially difficult to launch a book during a pandemic and we welcome some cheer, and cheering!

Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82331118657

Sitting with Matt Borondy’s excellent questions for Identity Theory Magazine, I realized the personal toll of these past two years is worse than I thought, even though, comparative to those with tangible losses, I’m having a privileged pandemic experience. The interview, in which I discuss writing, living, and struggling, is receiving a lovely response from readers and I’m heartened, and grateful.

I had no idea this existed and I am silly happy with ‘superb’ being my new favorite word. Thank you so much Goodreads! And congrats to everyone else listed here, including the wonderful Caitlin Horrocks, Te-Ping Chen, R.O. Kwon and Garth Greenwell (editors), Brenda Peynado, and Haruki Murakami. The collection I’m excited to get to next is LOVE LIKE THAT by Emma Duffy-Comparone.

I narrate my story “The Other Side of the World” on The San Franciscan Magazine. It’s about the pandemic, single motherhood, and a renegade sperm bank son. Take a listen (or read) here. The story originally appeared in The San Franciscan Issue 4 (May, 2021) and I highly recommend the entire read, which is rich with excellent journalism, essays, fiction, poetry, and artwork.

This post’s title is not a typo. I’m thrilled to be in conversation with the luminous Colm Tóibín to celebrate yet another of his stellar novels, The Magician (Simon & Schuster, September 7, 2021). He’ll be joining us live from Ireland, and the virtual event is hosted by my wonderful local bookstore Bookshop West Portal. Register here: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/colmtoibinbswp/register

“This magnificent new novel, a fictionalized vision of the life of Thomas Mann, opens in a provincial German city at the turn of the twentieth century, where Mann grows up with a conservative father, bound by propriety, and a Brazilian mother, alluring and unpredictable. Young Mann hides his artistic aspirations from his father and his homosexual desires from everyone. He is infatuated with one of the richest, most cultured Jewish families in Munich, and marries the daughter Katia. They have six children. On a holiday in Italy, he longs for a boy he sees on a beach and writes the story Death in Venice. He is the most successful novelist of his time, winner of the Nobel Prize in literature, a public man whose private life remains secret. He is expected to lead the condemnation of Hitler, whom he underestimates. His oldest daughter and son, leaders of Bohemianism and of the anti-Nazi movement, share lovers. He flees Germany for Switzerland, France and, ultimately, America, living first in Princeton and then in Los Angeles.In a stunning marriage of research and imagination, Tóibín explores the heart and mind of a writer whose gift is unparalleled and whose life is driven by a need to belong and the anguish of illicit desire. The Magician is an intimate, astonishingly complex portrait of Mann, his magnificent and complex wife Katia, and the times in which they lived–the first world war, the rise of Hitler, World War II, the Cold War, and exile. This is a man and a family fiercely engaged by the world, profoundly flawed, and unforgettable.”

Named a Most Anticipated Book by The Millions, Literary Hub, and TIME.

Booklist Starred Review

Kirkus Reviews Starred Review

Publishers Weekly Starred Review

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