Month: November 2025

Who Cares? Book Launch at Booksweet in Ann Arbor, December 7 at 3 PM ET

Everyone is invited to help launch my new novel Who Cares? at Ann Arbor’s Booksweet Bookstore on Sunday, December 7 at 3 PM ET. Set in Ypsilanti, Michigan in 1960, the novel is about Woodruff Home for the Aged, “a lively place where old people go to die.” The tale, about the struggle to age with dignity, is told through the eyes of eight memorable characters, ages 9 to 90. Read more about the book in NOVELS . Also reading are authors Maureen Aitken and Keith Hood. The event is FREE and OPEN TO ALL. Register at Eventbrite. Support Booksweet, your community bookstore!

Woodruff Home for the Aged: A lively place where old people go to die

Author Ann S. Epstein writes novel, stories, memoir, poems, and essays

Who Cares? Arrives in One Week!

December 2 is the release date for my latest novel, Who Cares? about the struggle for dignity at Woodruff Home for the Aged, “a lively place where old people go to die.” The tale is told through the eyes of eight memorable characters, ages 9 to 90. Read more about the book on the publisher’s order page and in NOVELS.

Welcome to Woodruff Home for Aged, a lively place where old people go to die

How Old Were They? Louis Braille

Louis Braille invented the Braille Language For The Blind at 15. Born in France in 1809, he was blinded at the age of 3. While a student at the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in 1824, he met Charles Barbier, an officer who had developed “sonography,” a system of written communication based on raised dots. Though the system was developed with the French Army in mind, Braille believed a similar method could be used by people who were blind and created what is now known the written language named for him. Read Who Cares? about the struggle for dignity at “a lively place where old people go to die.” Learn more about the book and its characters, aged 9-90, in NOVELS.

Braille’s language of raised dots enables the blind to read

Woodruff Home for the Aged, a lively place where old people go to die

Who Cares? Book Launch at Booksweet in Ann Arbor, December 7 at 3 PM ET

Everyone is invited to help launch my new novel Who Cares? at Ann Arbor’s Booksweet Bookstore, about Woodruff Home for the Aged, “a lively place where old people go to die.” The tale is told through the eyes of eight memorable characters, ages 9 to 90. Read more about the book on the NOVELS page of my website. Also reading are authors Maureen Aitken and Keith Hood. The event is free but please register at the Eventbrite site. Support Booksweet, your community bookstore!

Woodruff Home for the Aged: A lively place where old people go to die

Author Ann S. Epstein writes novel, stories, memoir, poems, and essays

Who Cares? Arrives in 13 Days!

December 2 is the release date for my latest novel, Who Cares? about the struggle for dignity at Woodruff Home for the Aged, “a lively place where old people go to die.” The tale is told through the eyes of eight memorable characters, ages 9 to 90. Read more about the book on the order page and in NOVELS.

Welcome to Woodruff Home for Aged, a lively place where old people go to die

World Kindness Day: November 13th

World Kindness Day, celebrated every year on November 13th, reminds us of our universal capacity to show compassion and good will toward one another. Established in 1998 by a global collective of helping organizations, the World Kindness Movement and its annual celebration transcends political, religious, and geographical divides. People are encouraged to perform acts of kindness — paying for a stranger’s coffee, organizing community events — in the belief that they will be inspired to be guided by kindness throughout the year. Collectively, small acts can have a big impact. Want to know about other lesser-known holidays coming up each month? Sign up for the monthly Ann S. Epstein Writer Newsletter using my website CONTACT US page. Write NEWSLETTER in the subject line and confirm the email address where you want to receive the Newsletter in the message. Remember to be kind, today and every day!

Small acts of kindness can collectively have a big impact!

Who Cares? Twin Publications!

Roz Chast’s drawing WHO CARES? and my novel WHO CARES? have little in common (aside from humor and pathos). Yet, as a Chast devotee (my refrigerator door is a gallery of her work), I’m thrilled by the coincidence. Chast’s cartoon, featuring one of her signature characters, appears in the September 22, 2025 issue of The New Yorker. My book, about Woodruff Home for the Aged, “a lively place where old people go to die,” comes out on December 02, 2025. Read more about the book Who Cares? in NOVELS.

Dear Roz, I care!

A plea for aging with dignity

How Old Were They? Grandma Moses

Folk artist Grandma Moses (born Anna Mary Robertson Moses) began painting at 76, when her arthritic hands could no longer embroider. Not one to sit around idly after a life of farm work, she took up painting. She never had any formal art training, or much education at all, but an art dealer passing through her town of Eagle Bridge, NY saw her works in a drug store, bought them for a few dollars, and arranged to have them shown in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. At the time of her death, more than a thousand canvases later, she had paintings in museums as far away as Vienna and Paris. Grandma Moses died in 1961 at the age of 101. Read Who Cares? about the struggle for dignity at Woodruff Home for the Aged, “a lively place where old people go to die.” Learn more about the book and its characters, aged 9-90, in NOVELS.

You’re never too old to take up a new hobby

Woodruff Home for the Aged, a lively place where old people go to die

Introducing a New Post Series “How Old Were They?”

My novel Who Cares? which arrives December 02, 2025, is about the struggle for dignity at Woodruff Home for the Aged, “a lively place where old people go to die.” The characters range in age from 9 to 90. This new series of posts reveals the amazing things done by people of all ages, from infants to centenarians. Read more about the book in NOVELS and enjoy the posts!

How old were people when they did noteworthy things?

Welcome to Woodruff Home for the Aged, a lively place where old people go to die