Amy Wallen: Memoirist and novelist

Amy Wallen: Memoirist and novelist
Thursday, October 18
- Craft Talk — 4:15 p.m., Standish Room, Science Library

Amy Wallen grew up in Nigeria, Bolivia, Peru and elsewhere, the daughter of a blue-collar Southern father employed as an exploratory driller by the oil industry. Her memoir, When We Were Ghouls (2018), is an attempt to recover the elusive memories of her unusual childhood.

In its review of When We Were Ghouls," the San Diego CityBeat wrote: "With deadpan humor and youthful incredulity, Wallen explores a series of strange events, each more bizarre than the last: stepping over dead bodies on her way to school, witnessing a cook stab a clerk with a knife at her school and declining an invitation to attend the execution of a predator, who had, as the story goes, turned himself into a goat after being apprehended by the authorities."

Novelist Claire Messud said, “Amy Wallen’s beautiful memoir, replete with fantastic stories, will carry you across continents and introduce you to amazing characters.”

Wallen serves as Associate Director of the New York State Summer Writers Institute in Saratoga Springs. Her first novel, MoonPies and Movie Stars, was a Los Angeles Times bestseller.