Amal El-Mohtar's Blog

Friends, readers, fellow travellers,

I'm writing from a dear friend's dining room table in St Louis, where I'm listening to sparrows, petting a perfect orange cat, and catching my breath. From March 4 to March 8 I was in a different city every day: New York, Portland (Maine), Chapel Hill, Cincinnati, and finally here, meeting booksellers and readers, reconnecting with friends and colleagues, some of whom I hadn't seen since before the pandemic. The years dissolved between us like sugar. On Friday...

Dear Friends,

Against all odds, today is March 4th. Which means – as it has meant for months and months that vanished into a hole in my pocket – that The River Has Roots is out in the world.

My own feelings winsomely captured by one of Leslie Levings' Beastlies!

Should you wish to support its journey, you can do any of the following!

Buy the book wherever it’s sold, in whatever format (hardcover, audio, ebook!) suits your fancy! On today this day of launch you can get signed stock from Perfect Book...

Dear Friends,

First, welcome new readers! Since last I wrote, I turned 40, found this year's bird (of which more anon), and saw the passing of three New Years. I hope to find the time to write about any of those things before going on tour for The River Has Roots.

The book comes out on March 4, which kicks off a five-city tour. On February 4 I found myself saying, out loud, "wow there are only 28 days between me and tour." On February 5, as if to underscore that point, a large box arrived at my d...

Dear Friends,

It's December 6! We're a week out from my birthday! I have scraps of letters I was writing in November that I haven't sent because that month managed to feel several months long and also vanish in an eye-blink.

But since we're now less than three months out from the release of The River Has Roots, many exciting and nerve-wracking things are pooling together and further distorting the gravity of my days, so writing about them feels extra necessary, to pin them in place and begin buil...

Friends! I'm in New York City! I haven't been since 2019! Getting here was smooth and good and now these events are no longer speculative and I want to take this opportunity to tell you about them again!

Wednesday, October 16, at 7PM: Ripped Bodice Event

I'm so excited to take part in When Fantasy and Romance Kiss, a ticketed event at The Ripped Bodice, with Carissa Broadbent, Sara Raasch, Sarah Beth Durst and Tamara Fuentes! Apparently the first 25 ticket holders will also receive an arc of The...

Dear Friends,

There are days where I'm disoriented by the strength in my hands. I've been lifting weights again, and the callus is re-emerging on my palms, a spine of orange mountains ranging at the base of my fingers that mesmerizes me, that I can't stop touching. After doing scapular retractions – dangling from the pull-up bar and drawing my shoulder blades together into perhaps 1/8th of a lift – my hands are sore, stiffened into claws, and take some time to limber up again; but a few hours la...

I wrote the below intermittently in the latter half of August, which is now firmly in the past as I got overtaken with, well, much of the work described below. Rather than chuck it, though, I'm just sending it the way one would a half-written letter by hand, underscored with a dividing line beneath which the present catches up to the past.

Dear Friends,

We are more than halfway through August, and I'm struck by feeling something opposite to what I felt this time last year, when I was wrestling wit...

Dear Friends,

I'm in London, briefly, to do an event with Lindsay Ellis and to see Hadestown for the [mumble]th time, before heading up to Glasgow and Worldcon! So here's some information about that.

Conversations

Lindsay's a goddamn rockstar and the event was sold out before I could even mention it here, but just in case you're local and tickets free up, you can sign up here!

Conventions

I've been looking forward to Glasgow's Worldcon since I became a supporter of the bid several years ago, but see...

Dear Friends,

I'm so excited to get to share with you the cover of my next book! It's called The River Has Roots, and it's about sisters, ballads, and grammar as magic. It comes out in March 2025, and you can pre-order it here, or from wherever you get your books!

UK readers, you can also pre-order it! It'll be out from Quercus there, the same fine folks who published This Is How You Lose the Time War.

Here's a synopsis:

In the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, dwells the mysteriou...

Dear Friends,

The crocuses, squill, and lilacs have all been and gone. The last time I wrote was March 8, and at some point in the last 5-7 days, I fully out loud said "isn't it wild that May's almost over?"

So that's how things have been over here.

Meanwhile, here's some time-sensitive stuff.

Bereavement Fundraiser for Jessica Wick

Jess is one of my dearest friends; she co-founded Goblin Fruit with me back in 2006, and is very much family. She lost her mother last month, and it's been harrowing to...