Amanda Cockrell

I was heartened by the huge turnout in Roanoke yesterday. Lots of kids, dogs, silly costumes, and determination that we have had enough.

I had a great conversation with Rob Fredette on his podcast Hodgepod: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a...

Kristina Gorcheva-Newberry, author of The Orchard:
“Inspired by true events, rich with historical detail, a profound, unsettling, and captivating look at Hollywood and the Red Scare. In this harsh reality, this era crumbling under the weight of hatred and authoritarianism, as timely as memorable.”

I have tremendous admiration for Peter Coyote as a writer, an actor, and a social conscience, so I am extremely grateful for this review of "Are You Now or have You Ever Been?"

The WGA has seen this before. If you don’t know what the Hollywood blacklist was, please look it up.

Thrilled by this review from Elizabeth Poliner.

…Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been? reveals
the heartbreak behind a legendary film star’s desire to be buried in her backyard…with the sweep of history—especially the McCarthy era’s “Red Scare”—and remarkable sense of place…wonderful, unique read.

This promo video I made for the new book seems horrendously prophetic.

The new blacklist. The last time we were asked to turn in people who didn’t agree with the government line, teachers lost their jobs and freelance writers and such lost their careers. I just wrote a damn novel about it. It’s hideously familiar.

From Midwest Book Review!
www.midwestbookreview.com/mbw/aug_25.h...

Are You Now…? takes us into and through the Hollywood blacklist, several love stories, a posthumous set of illegal instructions, bonds of family and friendship. Most of all it’s about Liza Jane, a heroine changing from decade to decade, always five strides ahead of her time.
—Liz Rosenberg

Amanda Cockrell's ARE YOU NOW OR HAVE YOU EVER BEEN? Hollins children's literature professor is celebrating her latest book

Thanks to Elizabeth Dulemba for letting my adult novel visit her kidlit blog! hollinskidlit.substack.com/p/amanda-coc...

Cover image of couple in 1950s clothing with a picket line behind them

Now available for pre-order! At all the usual sources but bookshop.org will benefit a local bookstore.

My father was a man ahead of his time. He rigged an on-off switch to a cable long enough to reach from the TV’s sound outlet to his recliner. He used it whenever a commercial came on. We called it the blab-off.
Here he is attempting to skin his friends at poker.

I love the way water hyacinths just pop up out of nowhere and the next time you look at them they’re gone again.

Oooh, ARCs are here! Out in December!

Indeed.

Young skunks under a tree

Skunk youngsters at Hollins at the end of our faculty house walkway. Others may not be as charmed as I am but they’re awfully cute, at a respectful distance.

Bart's Books is an Ojai institution, beloved of valley insomniacs. When I was a teenager the sign was just a handwritten card with instructions to take what you wanted from the outside shelves and throw a nickel over the fence.

Cactus carved with graffiti

Mission gates, and outer wall.

Cactus graffiti at Mission San Miguel Arcangel.

White Matilija poppies amid green foliage

Matilija poppies in Ojai. They were everywhere.

Picture of the Hollins University campus

Spend an idyllic week on a gorgeous campus with a bunch of other writers. I’m teaching Sense of Time and Place: Fiction and the Craft of World Building.

Poster says protect our troops from these clueless bozos

Poster says hands off libraries

Altered Virginia flag showing Trump on the ground

Poster says history has its eye on you

Today’s Hands Off protest in Roanoke.

Doing a very happy dance because there are daffodils and I just signed a contract with the wonderful Northampton House Press for a novel about the Hollywood blacklist: Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?
My parents were screenwriters so this one is close to my heart.
@noho-house-press.bsky.social

Are you looking for a writers’ workshop in an idyllic setting? Hollins University’s Tinker Mountain Writers Workshop offers an intensive week of workshops and craft talks on a beautiful campus. Mine is Sense of Place and Time: Fiction and the Craft of World-Building.
www.hollins.edu/tmww

He inspired the ire of fellow Republicans when he was in office by being a reasonable human being, and promptly got kicked out. As a longstanding Democrat, I miss Republicans like him.

Dogma’s stomach is upset by too much people food, and she is very sad to be cut off from bites at the table. Sick of being stared at by professional-grade very sad dog eyes, we have come to this — grandma’s sugar bowl full of dog kibble for table snacks.

Woman reading book beside a creek

Want a week-long writers’ workshop in an idyllic setting? Tinker Mountain Writers Workshop, June 8-12, Hollins University in Virginia. I’m teaching “Sense of Place and Time: Fiction and the Craft of World-Building” but there’s more, including nonfiction and poetry.

www.hollins.edu/academics/co...

The editorial assistant is looking up synonyms for nuisance.

Yep. Although I have to admit that the worst I ever saw was a woman. She was on the con committee and no one wanted to stop her. We had 20 minute slots and she read for forty.