The author of eleven books, McClanahan has published work in THE BEST AMERICAN POETRY, THE BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS, THE PUSHCART PRIZE series, KENYON REVIEW, GEORGIA REVIEW, GETTYSBURG REVIEW, BOULEVARD, THE SUN, and in anthologies by Beacon Press, Norton, Doubleday, St. Martin's, Putnam, Penguin, and numerous other publishers.
NEWS
RECENTLY RELEASED
• Rebecca's essay "When Life Interrupts the Writing" appears in The Next Draft, an anthology of craft talks.• Rebecca's poem "Mrs. Houdini" appears alongside poems by Lucille Clinton, Muriel Rukeyser, Emily Dickinson, and many others in Everyman's Library edition of Spellbound: Poems of Magic and Enchantment.
Rebecca's Newest Book
(All royalties donated to Second Harvest Food Bank)
READ OPENING ESSAY
REVIEWS
• Review in Kenyon Review by Amy Wright "The tune, though, is not of New York City alone; it is the siren song of human nature. It is a homecoming hymn for a home that is always changing."
• Review in River Teeth Journal by Tarn Wilson "Connection alone can't halt death or suffering, her essays tell us, but we can offer, and receive—even in the most unlikely circumstances—tenderness and respect."
• Review in Brevity's Non-Fiction Blog by Vivian Wagner "If at first McClanahan feels like she doesn't belong in the city, over time she comes to see that everyone there is connected, and everyone has a role to play, a story to tell, a song to sing."
• Review in PANK magazine by Cate Hodorowicz "Rebecca McClanahan offers a timeless portrait of New York's contradictions, which is to say, it provides a salve to the upheaval of now and acts as a reminder of the city's constancy throughout tribulations."
INTERVIEWS
• Interview with Nancy Geyer, Brevity Magazine
On the soundtrack of New York City, Central Park benches, 9/11, and how time has its way with places as well as with us.
• Interview with Julie Marie Wade for The Rumpus
We talked about collective heartbreak, cancer, 9/11 and the unpredictability of our lives, but also about the joys of dancing, gardening, single malt scotch, and the fun of imagining our dream jobs.
• Interview with Lara Lillibridge, Hippocampus
On balancing joy and sorrow, trusting your reader, the music of sentences, and violent revisions.
• Interview with Jennifer Anderson, Talking River Review We talk about our lives as sublets, how the smallest things can ambush us, and the horror of hearing someone shout, "Go back where you came from!"
• Interview with Leslie Pietrzyk, TBR (To Be Read) , on favorite writing advice, ideal readers, and the soundtrack of a city.
• Interview with Sydney Elliot, SOUNDINGS magazine on writing about difficult subjects and how life interrupts the memoir.
• Interview with Laraine Herring, on creative vs. destructive energy, the writing process, and the highs and lows of publication.
EVENTS
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• January 5-11, 2025
Queens University MFA residency, Charlotte, NC Rebecca conducting morning seminars More information on the MFA program
• January 26, 2026
"The Story (Poem, Essay Memoir) Takes Its Place Flatiron Writers Room (Online workshop)
REGISTER HERE
• June 23-28, 2024
Kenyon Review Writers Workshop
Rebecca teaching online workshops
• May 2, 2024
South Carolina Governor's School, Greenville, S.C. Conversation and book signing
(More events and details coming soon!)
The virtual book tour for In the Key of New York City has been a busy one. Thank you to all audience members who attended and to the sponsors of these events:
Ohio State University Oglethorpe University
Solstice MFA Program at Pine Manor College
Charlotte Readers Podcast
Malaprop's Bookstore
Flatiron Writers Room
Red Hen Press
Southpark Library in Charlotte
Gettysburg Review
Charlotte Writers Club North
Main Street Books in Davidson
Florida International University
Coastal Carolina University
Mauney Memorial Library in Kings Mountain
Kenyon Review
Queens University MFA,
Rainier Writers Workshop
SELECTED POEMS, ESSAYS, and EXCERPTS
POEMSGarrison Keillor reads four of Rebecca's poems on The Writer's Almanac
Other Poems
"Making Love" from The Best American Poetry
"To the Absent Wife of the Beautiful Poet..." from Kenyon Review
ESSAYS
The Birthday Place (on the surprising wisdom of dementia)
"Neighborhood Walk, Halloween Week" (on difficult decisions and women's rights)
Math Lesson (on memory and life's subtractions)
"Mail" (on mail that keeps coming for a dead father)
"Let It Go. Then Go On" (on regret and forgiveness)
Longer Essays and Excerpts
Rebecca reads excerpts from In the Key of New York City
Essays About Writing
"Loving Our Work and Letting it Go" QU magazine
"I Second That Emotion" (on connecting with your reader)
"Forest in the Trees" (on shaping a book of essays)
Media
Rebecca on memoir, writing as cross-training, and the internal forces that sabotage our work
NPR Interview on writing"The Tribal Knot"
Watch the video from Rebecca's book "The Tribal Knot"
Rebecca on the writing process
Listen to Garrison Keillor read Rebecca's poems