Amy Stephenson: Writer

AMY STEPHENSON

writer, reader, graphic designer, unpretentious book person

to About

hi

I'm Amy. I'm a writer based in the Hudson Valley who has worked in the book industry for 21 years.

I currently work remotely doing marketing and design work for Booksmith.

I have a cat, a husband, a very good whiskey selection, and a Murder, She Wrote tattoo. I read a lot (like, a lot).

Apropos of nothing, here I am in Alaska, where I used to live:

"She's smart, beautiful, and loud."—The San Francisco Chronicle

(photo by Beth Spotswood Daza)

(me)

(not me)

(Matanuska Glacier)

writing, &c

or: an abridged history of my chaotic career

I'm an experienced writer, editor, and copywriter. My work has appeared on Midnight Breakfast, The Establishment, the San Francisco Examiner, MEL Magazine, and elsewhere. I co-edited an anthology of "erotic" fanfiction called Loose Lips (Grand Central, 2016), available anywhere books are sold.

I was the cohost of a podcast called Old Wives, where we presented weekly, deeply-researched episodes and accompanying essays about the strangest fairy tales and folklore stories we could dig up. You can listen to all the episodes on your platform of choice.

I ran and emceed a terrifyingly popular literary fan-fiction competition called Shipwreck. It sold hundreds of tickets every month for six years at Booksmith. We cut every live show into a podcast, including the New York Comic Con shows, and you can listen to them here.

I also have a substack about mystery books. It is, like most of my projects, on hiatus, as I have spent the last year completing a novel draft, and am now seeking representation.

I am the former Events Director of the Booksmith, and, over the years, I've interviewed dozens of people much, much smarter and funnier than me on stages in front of live audiences.

I was a staff writer at Hoodline for five years, covering mostly the Upper Haight neighborhood of San Francisco. You can see my Hoodline pieces here.

You can catch me drinking manhattans and talking about Shipwreck and all the things that I read over at Drunk Booksellers, a podcast that is exactly what it sounds like (and is amazing).

You can also hear me on Bookstories Pod, talking Booksmith, the industry at large, and getting right up on my diversity soapbox.

Here's a cool and gorgeous profile of me in The San Francisco Chronicle that still makes me cry when I read it.

Amy_Stephenson___losertakesall__•_Instag

with Patton Oswalt at Public Works San Francisco in 2018 for I'll Be Gone in the Dark

What Does My Body Look Like?

For The Establishment

"Presto, a mid-calf length twill skirt. Change-o, take it off."

Hit the Floor

For The Tusk

Exploring the endless, endless murder spree in Cabot Cove, Maine on Murder, She Wrote.

In-conversation with Amelia Gray

For Midnight Breakfast

"[Gray's} is a strange world, but after spending an afternoon there, the anxiety I think we all feel about being alive starts to make a bit more sense."

to Services

How Reading Became a Lifestyle Brand

For Mel Magazine

The definition of what a bookstore IS has changed dramatically in the past decade, and here's why.

Loose Lips: Fanfiction Parodies of Great (and Terrible) Literature

Edited by Amy Stephenson & Casey Childers

Here, in book form, are the most outrageous and weird ships (and wrecks) in Shipwreck's 3-year history, drawn kicking and moaning from 23 of literature's most cherished (and hated) books, and illustrated for your pleasure by Madeline Gobbo.

This book contains bestselling, Hugo, Nebula, and Rita award-winning writers, plus expanded and new content, and essays from myself and Casey Childers.

Fair use has never been so titillating! Buy here.

to Work