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Allison Larkin

Internationally Best-Selling Author

About

Allie Larkin is the internationally bestselling author of the novels Stay, Why Can't I Be You, and Swimming for Sunlight.  She has never ordered a dog off the internet or assumed a new identity to attend a high school reunion. When Allie writes, she wears an oversized circa 1980’s acrylic sweater that is a crime against fashion and good taste in general. She loves Boston.  The band, not the city. But the city is great too. She hopes to be a mermaid someday.

Allie lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, Jeremy, their German Shepherd, Stella.  (an actual professional bio is here)

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Timeline:

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1977

Allie appears. No one calls her Allie.

1980's

Allie reads every book she can get her hands on. Her favorites include The Island of the Blue Dolphins, The Blossom Culp series, Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, The Young Aunts, The Ordinary Princess and antique store copies of The Bobbsey Twins. She lives in the home of the American Circus, tells secrets to frogs and has an enormous imaginary dog named Star, who is black and furry and has a white star on her forehead .

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Allie class of 95

1991-1995

Allie reads every book she can get her hands on, as long as it’s not assigned reading for English class, (the exception being Of Mice and Men, because it’s Steinbeck and Steinbeck is awesome).  Her favorites include anything by Willa Cather, the afore mentioned John Steinbeck, and Pat Conroy (especially The Lords of Discipline, which she reads so many times that the cover falls off and has to be glued back on more than once). Mrs. X, Allie's English teacher, is not a fan of her work.  Allie wears a lot of flannel, listens to The Cure constantly, has weird and wonderful friends, and spends an inordinate amount of time in diners.

1995-1997

Allie attends Ithaca College as a drama major. She may be the quietest theatre major the world has ever seen.  She meets Neil, her Ladies, and a jumbled cast of other creative beings. She learns amazing things about character development, and buys a Boston CD (these two things are not yet related).  She has a part on the campus soap opera. No, you can’t see the tape. Allie is diagnosed with ADD and lots of things start to make sense. She drops out of college.

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1997-1999

The lost years.  Let's not discuss in great detail. There may or may not be a mermaid costume involved. Allie acquires a very mean cat.

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2000-2002

Allie moves to Rochester and returns to college. A professor tells her she’s kind of good at the whole writing thing. She starts a short story about a woman named Van, but clings to the idea of pursuing something sensible like Public Relations. Writing wins. Allie graduates.

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2002

Allie meets Jeremy Larkin at a picnic. Today if you ask if she believes in love at first sight, Allie will hem and haw, because as a theory it seems flawed, but in actuality, it happened to her.

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2004

Allie marries Jeremy. It’s the smartest thing she’s ever done. A five-month-old German Shepherd named Argo joins their family, which is also a very smart thing. Argo is enormous and although he doesn’t have a white spot on his forehead, reminds Allie of Star, the imaginary dog she had as a child. The cat loses a leg, but not even an ounce of meanness.

2004-07

Allie has a series of oddly specific and soul crushing jobs, and is also in a writing group. She quits and resumes writing several times. The short story she’s been working on since 2002 is now 80,000 words long.

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2008

Allie brings home a rescue dog named Stella. Stella is crazy and refuses to pee, but eventually things work out well.

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2009

Allie finishes her short story about Van, a woman who loves Boston and accidentally buys an enormous Argo-esque German Shepherd off the internet from Slovakia. It is 308 pages and acts like a book.  Allie calls it Savannah Leone and Her Trusty Dog, Joe.  Smart people encourage her to change the title. Neil sends her hats.

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2010

Stay is published in hardcover. Argo is on the cover. ‘Mrs. X can suck it,’ is a phrase sweeping the Larkin household. Book tour ensues.

2011

Stay is published in paperback.  Allie doesn’t know the puppy on the cover, but wishes she did. Another book tour ensues.

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2011-2012

Allie writes in her ugly sweater, listens to The Cure constantly, and eats a lot of radishes, while Argo and Stella chase dream rabbits and snore under her desk. The snoring is loud. Argo gets sick in December 2012. He's loved like crazy to the very end.

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2013

Why Can’t I Be You hits shelves. It is now the future, but Allie doesn’t have a flying car or a laundry-folding robot, still, she’s incredibly excited about her new book. Book tour! Cross-country road trip with Stella the wonder dog. Move to California!

2014

Why Can't I Be You is optioned by Universal Pictures.

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2019

Swimming for Sunlight is on shelves!

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Okay, fine. Her jacket is reversible and we kinda Okay, fine. Her jacket is reversible and we kinda match. I admit it. Alright? We all knew this was coming. None of this should be a surprise to any of us. #dailyroxydog #huskychihuahua #dogjacket #peoplewhomatchtheirdogs
Just a dog in a puffy jacket that matches her lawn Just a dog in a puffy jacket that matches her lawn chair. And she likes it! #dailyroxydog #chihuahuamix #ilovemydog
We are in the habit of starting and ending our day We are in the habit of starting and ending our days side by side in our lawn chairs, while the light rises or dims. It’s still chilly at the outer edges of the day. Sometimes Roxy shivers. I bought her a sweater, but she won’t wear it. Sometimes I try to wrap her in my jacket, but she’s not having that either, so I throw her ball and try to get her run and then she comes back to her chair, warm for a little longer. #dailyroxydog #huskychihuahua #dogssittinginchairs
“I got a secret I should tell. I’m going up to “I got a secret I should tell. I’m going up to heaven in a split pea shell.” ~ @petermulvey43 Words Too Small to Say
Happy as a dog in a freshly dug nap hole. #dailyro Happy as a dog in a freshly dug nap hole. #dailyroxydog #huskymixesofinstagram
I saw this little dresser at my favorite magic ant I saw this little dresser at my favorite magic antique store sometime in November and didn’t buy it. But then, of course, I kept thinking about her. She’s the perfect size for my office, and I found those drawer pulls hilarious. When I finally went back in December, I told myself I was shopping for wall art, because I assumed she would be gone. But she was right where I’d seen her last: balanced on another dresser with boxes of old picture frames and tchotchkes piled on top (the true mark of a magic antique store). I didn’t even realize she had a towel rack — that she was a wash stand, not a dresser — until I asked about the price, said I’d take her, and my favorite magic antique store person asked if we needed to unscrew the towel rack to fit her in my car. I suspect this little sweetie is not from the days of necessary wash stands so much as from a country kitchen in the 80s. She was in rough shape, and not made from wood worth stripping and re-staining, but her price reflected that. I had to disassemble that door and put it back together, but I’d been in the market for some experience working with old furniture, and she made me feel brave about trying. I thought about painting her something more neutral, but I’m so glad I didn’t. She deserves to be pink. She’s not perfectly painted and needs a few touch ups. I learned some things about chalk paint and finishes. The drawers stick a bit. Eventually, I’d like to line them with fabric and when I do, I might plane the edges to smooth things out. But goodness, I love her in a way that I wouldn’t if I hadn’t spent time cleaning away her cobwebs and scrubbing the grime from her hilarious drawer pulls. She’s also become a little shrine for the book I’m working on, which makes me love her even more. I’ve always been a person who sees some soul in certain things, and I’m learning to cherish that idiosyncrasy, because there’s so much joy to be found in a brave little toaster or an underdog wash stand. We’re not here in the world for all that long. We may as well love some bright little things. #furnituremakeover
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