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Allison Larkin

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You are here: Home / 3Ws / 3Ws – Michael Storrings

3Ws – Michael Storrings

November 13, 2014 Filed Under: 3Ws, author interviews, books are awesome, giveaways

MIKE NEWPORTRAIT

What do you create?

I create Art that Celebrates.  I hope to capture in my work those memories people share when they travel to cities or celebrate special occasions together.  In my latest book, New York in Four Seasons, I tried to capture many of the events that happen in a year while also chronicling the life that occurs and joy that people feel at those gatherings.  My hope is that people will get lost in the details of my art and relive their own memories.

Some of the various images and people depicted in this book are personal to me—family, friends, places, and most of all, pugs. It’s a Where’s Waldo of pugs, and as you go through the book you will see tucked away in every corner a tan little curly tailed object with a blob of black on its face and ears.

My art career took a turn in 2005 when I started designing Christmas ornaments. Christmas became the vehicle to my voice and allowed me to memorialize places and events. These ornaments are now sold in major retailers across the country. My first book, A Very New York Christmas, depicted these ornaments and is an homage and “thank you” to the city that inspired my line, and my life. It will be rereleased in Fall 2015 with a special insert of punch-out ornaments.

I have recently started to take my work to other product venues, including snow globes, tableware, stationary, and puzzles. I even make prints of my art and hand glitter and sequin each one.  I can actually say I have a glitter studio!

In addition, I also design book jackets. I am the Creative Director at St. Martin’s Press and oversee and design covers.

Why do you create?

I have a codependent relationship with creating things. If I don’t create, I am not myself.

I am lucky to be in a profession and with people that support my addiction. I work full-time as the Creative Director at St. Martin’s Press and design book jackets and oversee the line of 700 plus books per year. When I come home, I work on my art. My careers feed my hunger to create.

It’s a vicious cycle and I love it! Believe it or not it energizes me to be like this.

 

What do you consume?

It sounds gluttonous, but I try to devour and take in everything around me—people, fashion, books, art, typography, emotions, colors, sights, songs, smells, Christmas, pugs, everything and anything in New York.  I’m a spectator; every day is a new event that I am lucky to be privy to.  How good is this?!

Links

Michael has a wonderful holiday giveaway going on right now. Enter here: http://tinyurl.com/mgc5v9r

Website: http://www.storrings.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MikeStorrings
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MichaelStorringsArtist
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/mikestorrings/
New York in Four Seasons: http://www.storrings.com/book.html

Book-Jacket-Straight

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Allison Larkin

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Internationally bestselling author of three novels as Allie Larkin and THE PEOPLE WE KEEP. Look for HOME OF THE AMERICAN CIRCUS @gallerybooks May 2025

“Larkin abandons the typical story arc in favor “Larkin abandons the typical story arc in favor of a more naturally flowing up-and-down journey that basks in beautiful moments like a slice-of-life story. Whether it’s banter at the bar Freya’s working or a leaking roof that is simply one more thing than she can possibly handle right now, the characters and their experiences are so real and pure that their joys and sorrows are amplified tenfold.” 

So honored by this AP review of Home of the American Circus! 

https://apnews.com/article/home-american-circus-allison-larkin-book-review-79ea3d1fdb69ef16232a8dfb7d148ad6

#homeoftheamericancircus #booksbooksbooks
I’ve seen a bunch of references to Home of the A I’ve seen a bunch of references to Home of the American Circus as my second novel. It’s actually my 5th! Before The People We Keep, under the name Allie Larkin, I wrote three books: Stay, Why Can’t I Be You, and Swimming for Sunlight. Here they are in their various editions with some of their translations! (And @justjuliawhelan also narrated Stay and Why Can’t I Be You, if you’d like to listen!)

Fun fact: That gorgeous dog on the hardcover of Stay was actually our dog Argo, and I took that photo of him when @duttonbooks couldn’t find the perfect photo of a black German Shepherd. #booksbooksbooks #bookstagram
Pub Day Part One. The thing is, it’s really hard Pub Day Part One. The thing is, it’s really hard to be a creative person in the world, and the blessing, the salvation, the joy of it is the community around art: the writers who will call an emergency novel Zoom meeting when you’re stuck on a draft, the ones who roll up their sleeves and make sure your words are saying what you intend to say, the one who writes an interview to promote your book in the local paper, the reader who captures pictures of the event and makes a reel, the bookstore saints who plan a meal based on the story and serve blue and yellow cupcakes and sing happy birthday to your book on launch day, the readers who show up and get books signed and ask great questions and tell stories about their lives. That’s book magic. And thanks to @townecenterbks (especially Judy and Stacey although I know there are bookstore saints behind the scenes too) and @reneewritesnovels and @woolfmania and @cassandra.a.dunn and @lindalattelessons @aneedleinmybookstack and everyone who showed up to Read it and Eat, I will never ever forget the pub day for Home of the American Circus. You all made it so special. Thank you! I love you. I’m so grateful to be part of the community of writers and readers. ❤️🐘
@deborahblakeauthor RIGHT BACK AT YOU! ❤️❤️❤️
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I will be back on Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I will be back on the grid tomorrow! I love you all so much and I’m so grateful for your support! 😘😘😘 #homeoftheamericancircus
Well, here we are on the eve of Pub Day for Home o Well, here we are on the eve of Pub Day for Home of the American Circus! 

You know that classic bit of writing advice about how you’re supposed to write the book that scares you? Well, for a long time the thought of actually writing and sharing Home of the American Circus scared the heck out of me. I spent many many years collecting ideas for this book, terrified by the thought of how deep I’d have to dig to tell this story the right way. The book is firmly fiction, and the characters are all my imaginary friends, but the setting and themes are literally and figuratively close to home for me. Freya’s story isn’t mine, we have different life events and demographics, but I understand her sense of grief and loss and floundering and hope on a cellular level. And of all the characters I’ve ever written, the way her mind works is the closest to how I think and feel. It takes place in the town where I grew up. And I think when you read this book, you won’t know my life story, but you will know the tenor of my heart. I grew up as a kid with undiagnosed ADHD in a place where I didn’t fit, frantically trying to look normal, believing it was the only way anyone would love me. Always falling short, terrified of failure. And then in my early twenties, I dropped out of college and worked at a biker bar and made such a huge mess of my life that I was forced to build myself up again brick by brick—this time knowing that failure isn’t the worst thing that can happen to a person. That as long as you can find the strength to try again in one way or another, falling flat on your face is not the end of the world. And I learned that the only way to truly feel loved is to be yourself and see who’s up for loving you in your natural form. The people I keep taught me that. And even though it scared me, this was a book I needed to write, it’s the work I’m most proud of, with characters I love the most. So sharing it doesn’t feel like the end of the world at all. Just the end of the world where I have not shared this novel set in ny hometown with a character who has a heart like mine. #misheardlyrics #rem #homeoftheamericancircus #awkwardguitar #itstheendoftheworldasweknowitandifeelfine
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