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Allison Larkin

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  • Home
  • Books
    • Home of the American Circus
    • The People We Keep
    • Allie Larkin
  • TrueHearts Collective
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Instantly French!

September 25, 2018 Filed Under: food

Are you an Instant Pot devotee too? I had the pleasure of testing the vegetable recipes* from Ann Mah's new cookbook, INSTANTLY FRENCH. Not only did I fall in love with the elegant simplicity of recipes for poached pears, braised peppers, and Moroccan chickpea stew, but I learned how to better use my Instant Pot in the process. With Instant Pot cooking, sometimes it's easy for spices to get drowned out, but Ann always gets the seasoning exactly right, and it makes cooking from (and eating) these recipes a joyful experience. The other thing I love about this book is that the recipes I … [Read more...]

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3Ws – Louise Miller

August 9, 2016 Filed Under: 3Ws, books are awesome, food, writing

What do you create? By day, I create desserts, and by night I create novels that I hope are funny and true.   Why do you create? I have always turned to writing to figure the world (and myself) out. As a kid my diary was my lifeline—I didn’t understand how I was feeling unless I wrote it down. As an adult, I find writing fiction to be a wonderful way to explore questions I have without having to upend my life. The City Baker’s Guide to Country Living was inspired in part by my wrestling with the question would I be happy living in the country? I have always had a longing to … [Read more...]

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3Ws – Dana Bate

December 9, 2014 Filed Under: 3Ws, author interviews, books are awesome, food, writing

What do you create? I write what some call “foodie rom coms” – short for food-themed romantic comedies. Other people have called it chick lit, lighthearted women’s fiction, and foodie lit. I just write the stories inside me and try not to label them. Why do you create? I like making something that can bring a smile to someone’s face, including my own. When I’m in a groove and write a scene that is working, it’s like a drug – I can’t get enough. But what’s even better is when someone else reads that scene and has a similar reaction. I recently received a message from a reader … [Read more...]

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3Ws – Stacey Ballis

November 6, 2014 Filed Under: 3Ws, author interviews, books are awesome, food, writing

What do you create? I'm primarily a novelist and sometime cookbook author. I write "foodie fiction," novels with foodie heroines and recipes in the back. My current novel, Out to Lunch, is about a woman who loses her best friend and gains custody of her best friend's annoying widower. My next novel, Recipe for Disaster, is about a house flipper whose life implodes leaving her jobless, homeless and fiancé-less in one horrible day, forcing her to fend for herself while living in the half-finished ruin of her current construction project. And my new digital cookbook is Big Delicious Life, … [Read more...]

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3Ws – Renee Swindle

November 4, 2014 Filed Under: 3Ws, author interviews, books are awesome, food, writing

What do you create? I create novels.  So far I’ve written Please Please Please, Shake Down The Stars, and  A Pinch Of Ooh La La, which came out in August. I create quirky and humorous characters--characters with foibles, who usually get in the way of their own best interests. Sometimes my novels lean more on the humorous, like with A Pinch of Ooh La la and other times they’re closer to dramadies. Shake Down The Stars, for instance, dealt with a woman overcoming a major loss and alcoholism, but there was also humor throughout because I can’t seem to help myself.  It was nice to hear … [Read more...]

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3Ws – Ann Mah

October 28, 2014 Filed Under: 3Ws, author interviews, books are awesome, food, Travel, writing

What do you create? I write and I cook—both activities centered around food! I've written a food memoir called Mastering the Art of French Eating and a novel, Kitchen Chinese. Both books use food as a way to explore a new country. I also write food-centric travel articles and create recipes for my blog. Basically, my work is a giant excuse to travel around and eat.   Why do you create? My husband is a diplomat and a month after we got married, we moved to Beijing, China. At first I was adrift—unemployed in a new place where I barely spoke the local language. But … [Read more...]

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A recipe (sort of) for @aracauna_man

May 24, 2011 Filed Under: (non)recipes, food

I'm happiest about cooking when I don't have a recipe in front of me.  I like to combine good, basic ingredients to taste and see what happens. I tweeted about my leftover lentil concoction today, and @aracauna_man pointed out that if I'm going to tweet about good food, I should at least offer up a recipe.I'm way too lazy to try to figure out how to explain my mad scientist approach to lentils in 140 characters, so here's an almost recipe for my new favorite meal.  There are no amounts listed.  I just eyeball the amounts for our meal needs and what I'm in the mood for.Veggies, etc.Precooked … [Read more...]

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I think I might be done with gardening. Sort of. Maybe.

August 25, 2009 Filed Under: food, garden

Last year, I gardened like crazy. I grew tons of peppers and tomatoes. I roasted and dried and sauced and froze. I spent most of my summer weekends cooking and weeding. I watered every morning and every night. When we went away, I enlisted one of my friends to come water for me. I was a gardening fool. This year, I watched my garden get invaded by weeds while I worked on my rewrites. And it was okay, because I was still getting a reasonable amount of cukes and eggplant, with promises of peppers and tons and tons of tomatoes. But then the tomatoes stayed green for a really long time. … [Read more...]

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Allison Larkin

allielarkinwrites

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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