Claudia O'Keefe ~ Writer & Anthologist
Nonfiction
For this author of the highly acclaimed anthologies...
Forever Sisters, Mother, and Father, that wasn’t always the case. As a child, O’Keefe’s extended family would come together each Thanksgiving and Christmas to share dinner around an old ping pong table near the lemon tree in her grandparents’ backyard. “For an evening, we were a family,” she says.
Years later, divorce, estrangement, and the passing of older relatives whittled away at her family, leaving just O’Keefe and her mother, a veteran YA novelist. Following her mother’s path, she also became a writer and quickly discovered that putting together anthologies centered around family not only allowed her “to relive and celebrate cherished memories, but to understand and accept what might have gone wrong with mine.”
Forever Sisters, a favorite with readers, showcases the work of a stellar group of writers: Alice Walker, Marilyn French, Olivia Goldsmith, Ann Beattie, Joy Fielding, Fay Weldon, Whitney Otto, Amy Bloom, Cristina Garcia, Susan Palwick, Lolita Files, Rita Dove, Marly Swick, Caroline Leavitt, Paullina Simons, Tracy Robert, Carol Edgarian, and Fae Myenne Ng.
Critics Share Their Enthusiasm for Forever Sisters
“Vibrant and diverse tributes to the experience of sisterhood.”“O’Keefe has keenly arranged prize-winning talent and excellent new voices to illuminate the emotional range inherent in an absorbing subject.”
“A Powerhouse of eighteen women writers…commemorates the sometimes hateful, sometimes tender and trusting bond between women who grow up together. Vital and celebratory…these stories are honest as only sisters can be.”
“O’Keefe’s selection of stories shows great sensitivity towards her subject, as well as a heap of humor that makes the volume hard to put down.”
For Mother
“A literary feast.”
“I’d take this book to my mother…I think she’d love it.”
