November 2021 – Ann S. Epstein Writer

The Great Stork Derby Virtual Reading on December 1, 2021

I’m doing a virtual reading of my new novel, The Great Stork Derby, at Literati Bookstore on December 1, 2021 at 7:00 PM Eastern Time. Author and colleague Danielle LaVaque-Manty will also interview me, followed by a Q and A with online participants. The event is free. No preregistration is required and you can join the Zoom webinar from anywhere. Go to the Literati event page and click the link on the page to join the event.

You can also order copies of The Great Stork Derby from Literati, as well as copies of my other novels, using the “Add to Cart” feature on that page. Support a great independent bookstore.

The Great Stork Derby, based on a bizarre chapter in Toronto’s history, asks whether an overbearing father deserves the chance to make amends with his alienated offspring. Widower Emm Benbow, who 50 years ago pressured his late wife to win a contest by having many babies, must now move in with one of his many children or go to a dreaded old age home. As he lives with each child in turn, Emm discovers that the true value of fatherhood is not measured in big prizes, but in small rewards.

Read more about the “bad dad” in The Great Stork Derby in NOVELS. See NEWS for information about other upcoming events. I look forward to “seeing” you at the event. Thanks for your interest and support.

The story of a “bad dad” and his dysfunctional family, based on a bizarre but true event

Semi-Good News to Share: St. Lawrence Book Award Semi-Finalist

I’m pleased to report that I was named a semi-finalist in the 2021 St. Lawrence Book Award for my story collection Women, Working. Visit the Black Lawrence Press website for the list of finalists and semi-finalists .

About the book: The fourteen stories collected in Women, Working dramatize women’s ongoing fight to balance work and family, intimacy and independence, tradition and progress. Spanning two centuries, the narratives highlight a forward march impeded by social upheaval, physical and psychological assault, and patriarchal resistance. The women — including an 1820 mill worker, a 1911 Triangle fire survivor, a Depression packhorse librarian, a chicken catcher in feminism’s early days, a contemporary trucker — are notably different, yet they share an unsinkable spirit, unflagging determination, and unwavering peer support.

Click on SHORT STORIES to read more.

The unexpected good news encourages me to submit the collection elsewhere. Wish me luck!

Why writers write: “To survive, you must tell stories.” – Umberto Eco)

What I’m Reading: Inseparable by Simone de Beauvoir

My Goodreads and Amazon review of Inseparable: A Never-Before Published Novel by Simone de Beauvoir (Rating 4) – Sartre Was Wrong! Inseparable, a heretofore unpublished novel by Simone de Beauvoir, is worth reading for Margaret Atwood’s introduction alone. There readers learn that de Beauvoir decided not to publish the book after the “great” Jean Paul Sartre dismissed its focus on the lives of young women as uninteresting and unworthy compared to existentialism’s significant themes. Sartre was wrong. The book IS indeed about the search for a raison d’être, among women living within the confines of religious, social, and intellectual expectations of post-WWI France. What transforms the book from didacticism into a moving novel is the story of the intense love the narrator Sylvie feels for her schoolmate Andrée, a lively rebel who is nevertheless bound by duty to her mother, social class, and God. The characters are barely disguised versions of de Beauvoir herself and her childhood friend Zaza. The novel captures the asexual passion that women carry for their girlfriends. Any woman who has been devastated by the end of such a relationship — whether from an irreparable rift, diverging lives, or death — will understand the enormity of the lingering fixation on the beloved and the pain of losing her. As a writer of historical fiction (see my Amazon author page and Goodreads author page), I admire how the picture of a particular place and time is balanced with universal portraits of unforgettable individuals. Just as Andrée (Zaza) stayed with Sylvie (Simone) for the rest of her life, so will the friendship between these inseparable girls live on in readers.

Why writers read: “Nineteen pounds of old books are at least nineteen times as delicious as one pound of fresh caviar.” – Anne Fadiman

Great Book Launch for The Great Stork Derby

Thank you to Booksweet Bookstore in Ann Arbor for hosting the launch of The Great Stork Derby on November 5, 2021. I was one of four authors who read from their work to a capacity but socially-distanced and masked audience. People were intrigued by the novel’s bizarre but true premise, and asked thoughtful questions about the book and the writing life. Read more about the “bad dad” in The Great Stork Derby in NOVELS. Next up is a virtual reading at Literati Bookstore in Ann Arbor, open to all, on December 1, 2021. See NEWS for details about this and other upcoming events.

Launching The Great Stork Derby at Booksweet Bookstore

Four authors hosted at Booksweet Bookstore in Ann Arbor

A bizarre but true tale of having babies to win a large cash prize

Praise for The Great Stork Derby in Historical Novel Review

The Great Stork Derby received a laudatory write-up in the latest issue of Historical Novel Review. Here’s an excerpt from the review: “Based on a true event, this is a touching and poignant look at family life and how it is never too late to effect change.” Read the full review in the November 2021 issue of Historical Novel Review. Read more about The Great Stork Derby in NOVELS and buy it at your favorite bookstore or order the book online. If you enjoyed this book, and my other novels, I’d be grateful if you wrote your own review on Amazon and/or Goodreads. Thanks so much!

A timeless historical novel about complex family relationships

Short Story “Housewidow” Online at The Woven Tale Press

My short story “Housewidow” is now online at The Woven Tale Press, 2021, Volume IX, No. 9. Set during the post-WWII housing shortage, “Housewidow” portrays how a third-grader’s world is upended when her family is evicted after her father’s uncharacteristic outburst against their demanding landlady. Read more in SHORT STORIES.