Jennifer McMahon

I was born in 1968 and grew up in my grandmother’s house in suburban Connecticut, where I was convinced a ghost named Virgil lived in the attic. I wrote my first short story in third grade. I graduated with a BA from Goddard College in 1991 and then studied poetry for a year in the MFA in Writing Program at Vermont College. A poem turned into a story, which turned into a novel, and I decided to take some time to think about whether I wanted to write poetry or fiction. After bouncing around the country, I wound up back in Vermont, living in a cabin with no electricity, running water, or phone with my partner, Drea, while we built our own house. Over the years, I have been a house painter, farm worker, paste-up artist, Easter Bunny, pizza delivery person, homeless shelter staff member, and counselor for adults and kids with mental illness -- I quit my last real job in 2000 to work on writing full time. In 2004, I gave birth to our daughter, Zella. In 2005, we left the woods (for now), and moved to Barre, Vermont -- producer of one-third of all the granite gravestones and mausoleums in the US.

You can email me at jennifer@​jennifer-mcmahon.com. I welcome any and all feedback on my work, inquiries from reading groups, and general chit-chat -- and I love a good ghost story... Don't forget to subscribe to my newsletter for the latest updates, contests, and other tidbits!

My literary agent is Dan Lazar of Writers House. Email him at dlazar@​writershouse.com

My publicist at HarperCollins is Gregory Henry. Email him at gregory.henry@​harpercollins.com