Read “Tell Me What I Cannot Know,” my essay published in The Wilderness House Literary Review
The essay describes events that took place shortly after the death of my closest friend. https://www.whlreview.com/no-16.3/essay/MaryAnnMcGuigan.pdf
Read “the Snow Fort,” my short story published in Writing in a Woman’s Voice
“Sean didn’t ask what went wrong. The night his parents told him they couldn’t live together anymore, he rolled his eyes in contempt, as if their decision were a moment of crankiness, some phase that would pass if they didn’t insist on making so much of it.” https://writinginawomansvoice.blogspot.com/search?q=Snow+Forthttps://writinginawomansvoice.blogspot.com/search?q=Snow+Fort
Read “Shelter,” my short story published in The Lumiere Review
“He answers her, sounding accustomed—even at age six—to a world filled with things he can’t have. And Maureen wonders if he understands that that list may now include a place to sleep.” https://www.lumierereview/mary-ann-mcguigan
Read “Suffer the Children,” my short story published in Fiction on the Web
“Her father says her name and Moira halts, jerks her arm from his, afraid he might guess what she’s thinking, realize she’s the enemy.” https://www.fictionontheweb.co.uk/2021/09/suffer-children-by-mary-ann-mcguigan.html
Read “Beloved,” my short story published in fresh.ink
The story is an attempt to capture the pain of incongruity—of something being out of place. I wanted the details—the wedding in the Laundromat, Mayor Bloomberg officiating—to move from ridiculous to joyful, pointing to Maria’s alienation not only from the culture she grew up in but from the dream of having a child and being … Read more
You Have to Be Carefully Taught
When I was a kid in the Bronx in the ’60s, racism was as American as apple pie, at least in my family. They were second-generation Irish, struggling to make ends meet, and they didn’t lose sleep over who got shut out of a job or a neighborhood. How could we look down on Negroes? … Read more
It’s 1963. They’re marching in Washington—Even people from the Bronx
—including Fiona’s friend David and his mother! [From Morning in a Different Place, Bronx 1963, Fiona learns that her friend David Silverman went to the March on Washington with his mom and Mrs. Carson, Yolanda’s neighbor.] “Mrs. Carson is your friend?” says Yolanda [to Mrs. Silverman]. “Well, an acquaintance really. But we’ve gotten to be … Read more
Fiona is white. Yolanda is black. Their friendship breaks the rules.
And if Fiona wants to be accepted by her newfound friends, she’ll have to end it. She knows what she should do, but heroics don’t come easy to an outcast. Her courage gets lost—until Yolanda helps her find it. [From Morning in a Different Place, Bronx, NY, 1963] President Kennedy is on TV, giving a … Read more
A Gathering of Book Lovers
BooksNJ at Paramus Library What a pleasure it was to meet so many New Jersey writers of all stripes and so many avid readers who attended BooksNJ, a festival celebrating writing, reading, and books.The event was sponsored by the Bergen County Cooperative Library System. I thank them again for the chance to meet and talk … Read more