Anica Mrose Rissi
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anicarissi.bsky.social
Anica Mrose Rissi
@anicarissi.bsky.social
1.9K followers 1.3K following 620 posts
Author of books for kids & teens 🌈 Fan of dogs & ice cream 💚 Faculty at VCFA WCYA

Most recent books: WISHING SEASON and HIDE AND DON'T SEEK

Up next: GIRL REFLECTED IN KNIFE (4/2026)

https://anicarissi.com/

newsletter: https://thisistheeavesdrop.com/
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anicarissi.bsky.social
Went to the local bookstore, got some cool gifts.
The Bunny Ballet, a picture book written by Nora Ericson, illustrated by Elly MacKay. Persian Mythology: Epic Stories of Gods, Heroes, and Monsters, a middle-grade collection written by Ryan Bani Tahmaseb, illustrated by Reza Dalvand. The Siren and the Star, a YA novel in verse by Colby Cedar Smith.
December 5, 2025 at 11:00 PM
anicarissi.bsky.social
Big plans for the day.
"Chill out eat a pickle" in all caps white text on a green background, from the Grillo's Pickles label.
December 3, 2025 at 4:26 PM
anicarissi.bsky.social
Okay, here’s what I think you should get for that person on your list—the one interested in history, romance, audacity, celebrity, the media, publishing, aviation, exploration, the Jazz Age, Great Depression, NYC, Boston, ambition, the creation of legends, and/or well-researched, well-told stories:
The Aviator and the Showman: Amelia Earhart, George Putnam, and the Marriage That Made an American Icon by Laurie Gwen Shapiro, held up in front of a bookshelf full of nonfiction.
December 2, 2025 at 10:18 PM
anicarissi.bsky.social
"which doesn't mean that the books aren't good, only that the great machinery of merchandising didn't engage its gears in quite the right way" ♥️
Prayer in the Strip Mall, Bangor, Maine Stuart Kestenbaum The week after Thanksgiving and the stores are decked out for holiday shopping including a TJ Maxx where what was once too expensive loses its value and attracts us, there is a store with a big yellow banner proclaiming GIANT BOOK SALE, a seasonal operation of remaindered books, which doesn't mean that the books aren't good, only that the great machinery of merchandising didn't engage its gears in quite the right way and I buy two books of poetry and am leaving the store, the first snowstorm of the winter on the way and as I get to the glass double doors a bearded man with a can is entering, he has been walking with a woman who is continuing on to another store and he has the look that could make him either eccentrically brilliant or just plain simple and as I open the door and he opens the other side he turns and says "I love you," not to me but calling back to his friend who is departing, only he's said it looking at me, closest to me, which is unintended love, random love, love that should be spread throughout the world, shouted in our ears for free.
November 30, 2025 at 4:58 PM
anicarissi.bsky.social
From incidentalcomics.substack.com/p/a-haikomic...
Comic by Kelcey Ervick. Four panels with drawings of birds and the text I could not attend the meeting because I had to draw these birds.
November 20, 2025 at 3:39 PM
anicarissi.bsky.social
Convincing you to read my novel with the first sentence. Share yours if you want.

(This is the opening of WISHING SEASON.)
1. The Question At ten minutes past the usual time, the school bus rolled to its usual stop, opened its doors, and coughed out a girl. Her sneakers landed in the gravel with a crunch.
November 11, 2025 at 4:51 PM
anicarissi.bsky.social
Also, I met this chonky cat.
Soft, gray, silly, sweet, and fat Juniper on her side, playing. She's five years old but a total kitten.
November 8, 2025 at 11:43 PM
anicarissi.bsky.social
Stopped by The Briar Patch in Bangor & signed copies of WISHING SEASON—look for it in their Maine-ly Middle Grade section. While there, I grabbed Calvino’s SIX MEMOS FOR THE NEXT MILLENNIUM from their Books About Books table. We love a well-curated bookstore stocked to the gills with great choices!
Outside shot of The Briar Patch, a brick building with brick sidewalk and a Maine flag. Two copies of Wishing Season by Anica Mrose Rissi, one signed by the author with the message "Hold on to the magic inside you." Anica Mrose Rissi holding three copies of her novel Wishing Season, standing next to the Maine-ly Middle Grade sign in the bookstore.
November 8, 2025 at 11:41 PM
anicarissi.bsky.social
Today's office / Today's coworkers
Autumnal field in Maine beneath a blue sky with sweeping clouds. In the distance, a house and barn and trees. Wild turkeys in a field at the edge of a forest.
November 3, 2025 at 9:49 PM
anicarissi.bsky.social
My heart is always happy to be back in Maine—this time for 3 school visits & an educator conference. But first: a walk at the granite quarry on the island where I grew up (& where WISHING SEASON is set), thinking about setting & seasons & whether/how time itself might be a character in my next novel
November 2, 2025 at 11:07 PM
anicarissi.bsky.social
"the scaryest story was If! I HATED THAT ONE! I give that book 2,000,000 ★!"

My readers write the best fan(?) mail.

(This is page 2 of a letter about Hide and Don't Seek: And Other Very Scary Stories)
Kid handwriting with the text quoted above.
October 31, 2025 at 6:51 PM
anicarissi.bsky.social
Okay, but who is the book for???
BISAC Categories: Kids, Kids, Kids, Kids, Kids, Kids, Kids, Kids, Kids, Kids, Kids, Kids, Kids, Kids Screenshot from the Bookshop.org page for Hide and Don't Seek: And Other Very Scary Stories.
October 23, 2025 at 12:24 AM
anicarissi.bsky.social
Happy Dory Release Month to all who celebrate ♥️
Dory Fantasmagory, Center of the Universe by Abby Hanlon.
October 18, 2025 at 1:20 AM
anicarissi.bsky.social
New scholarships available for incoming students in the Writing for Children & Young Adults low-residency MFA program at VFCA (where I teach), funded by kid lit legend Katherine Paterson.

Thinking about applying? I'm happy to chat! vcfa.edu/admissions/v...
Katherine Paterson is empowering the next generation of writers. $2,500 scholarships now available exclusively for incoming winter MFA WCYA students! Apply now! vcfa.edu. Katherine Paterson Scholarships. MFA in WCYA at VCFA, a CalArts affiliate.
October 15, 2025 at 4:05 PM
anicarissi.bsky.social
'tis the season
Fire pit!
October 11, 2025 at 12:02 AM
anicarissi.bsky.social
HIDE AND DON'T SEEK: AND OTHER VERY SCARY STORIES is "a strong choice for both horror fiends and those just wanting to dip their toes into scarier waters” (Booklist)—perfect for readers ages 8 to 888.

(Please don’t share it with any 889-year-olds. I shudder to think what might happen.)
Hardcover of Hide and Don't Seek: And Other Very Scary Stories by Anica Mrose Rissi, with illustrations by Carolina Godina, on a (spooky?) pile of sticks.
September 30, 2025 at 11:00 PM
anicarissi.bsky.social
It's getting ~spooky~ out there, so just a reminder that this book exists. 👻🖤 It has "all the makings of a modern classic...like Alvin Schwartz's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark" (SLJ, starred review) and is "certain to be a gateway drug to @stephenking.bsky.social" (Portland Press Herald).
September 30, 2025 at 10:54 PM
anicarissi.bsky.social
The group chat is giggling over "(in Pan's palm)"

Thanks, @pwkidsbookshelf.bsky.social, for spreading the word about The Eavesdrop! Here's the link to our first issue: www.thisistheeavesdrop.com/issue-1-begi...
Listen in! Authors (from l.) Emily X.R. Pan, Nova Ren Suma, Sara Ryan, Anica Mrose Rissi, and Anna-Marie McLemore (in Pan's palm) gathered to celebrate the launch of their free quarterly newsletter The Eavesdrop. In the newsletter, the cofounders plan to share their thoughts on craft, publishing, and their creative processes. The first issue of the newsletter, which released on September 22, on Beginnings, can be viewed here.
September 25, 2025 at 11:10 PM
anicarissi.bsky.social
Thanks to everyone who already signed up for The Eavesdrop! We'll pick our giveaway winner at the end of October, so if you hit subscribe now (free!) you can still be entered to win a signed bk from each of us. We'll only step into your inbox once a season. www.thisistheeavesdrop.com/issue-1-begi...
Beginnings: an Eavesdrop conversation. Book stack showing Anna-Marie McLemore's Flawless Girls, Anica Mrose Rissi's Wishing Season, Emily X.R. Pan's An Arrow to the Moon, Nova Ren Suma's Wake the Wild Creatures, and Sara Ryan's Mountain Upside Down.
September 22, 2025 at 5:18 PM
anicarissi.bsky.social
Happy Friday. Tato has some concerns.
Close-up of a worried-looking dog. (He's fine; that's just his resting concerned face.)
September 19, 2025 at 2:46 PM
anicarissi.bsky.social
We’re excited to see where the conversation goes. We hope you'll listen in! Subscribe for free at thisistheeavesdrop.com

♥️ Anna-Marie McLemore, @exrpan.bsky.social, @anicarissi.bsky.social, @ryansara.bsky.social & @novarensuma.bsky.social

P.S. Each season's newsletter includes a bookish giveaway
Authors Emily X.R. Pan, Nova Ren Suma, Sara Ryan, and Anica Mrose Rissi posing cutely in a line in someone's living room--with a miniature Anna-Marie McLemore magically conjured in (okay, photoshopped onto) Emily's open palm.
September 16, 2025 at 4:50 PM
anicarissi.bsky.social
I've been making something fun with friends, and our first issue drops on September 22. If you're interested in craft, process, and the creative life, I hope you'll subscribe! (It's free.) Find us at thisistheeavesdrop.com. Here's the pitch: 🧵
Logo for The Eavesdrop with black and purple text over a background of open books by the authors. The text reads: The Eavesdrop a quarterly conversation in your inbox with authors Anna-Marie McLemore, Emily X.R. Pan, Anica Mrose Rissi, Sara Ryan, and Nova Ren Suma thisistheeavesdrop.com
September 16, 2025 at 4:42 PM
anicarissi.bsky.social
Meanwhile, on my windowsill...
A succulent and some kind of volunteer growing in a tureen. A red leafed, purple flowered plant (sorry, I don't know what anything's called!) growing in another tureen. Leafy green trees outside.
September 15, 2025 at 7:52 PM
anicarissi.bsky.social
I play fiddle in and write lyrics for this electro-country band. After an intense summer in the studio recording tracks for our new album (coming in March 2026), we're pleased to be back onstage for three outdoor NJ/PA shows. More info in the alt text.

Come dance and cry along!
Owen Lake and the Tragic Loves Saturday, 9/13 Hopewell Porchfest 10 E. Broad St. Hopewell, NJ 4pm Friday, 9/19 Tired Hands Mt. Airy Beer Garden with Autumn Luz 6730 Germantown Ave Philadelphia, PA Autumn plays at 6:30 Our set starts at 7:30 Saturday, 10/4 Unruly Sounds Festival Hinds Plaza Princeton, NJ 12-5pm (festival schedule TBA, but our set will be on the later side)
September 9, 2025 at 8:51 PM
anicarissi.bsky.social
NOBODY KNOWS BUT YOU was a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. PW said its “exceptional pacing creates a breathless, adrenaline-filled chase through Kayla’s memories,” and The Bulletin praised its “psychological tension and twists.”

Here's a peek at the opening page. Happy birthday, book!
September 3 Channel 5 News “Tragic accident or deadly revenge? “Sources from within the state prosecutor’s office say the D.A. is close to filing charges against a teenage suspect in the sensational case that has shocked and gripped viewers across the region since the fateful night three weeks ago that left one sixteen-year-old summer camper dead and another under suspicion of murder. “Michael Desir, an attorney for the teen who is at the center of the ongoing police investigation, maintains his client’s innocence, even as prosecutor Marsha Davis is expected to bring charges within the week. Despite few official facts having been released in the case, rumors and speculation run rampant online, fueled by social media posts from other campers and their parents and counselors. Some have suggested that the delays in pressing charges could indicate major weaknesses in the state’s attempt to build a case proving the camper’s untimely death was a passion-fueled crime, not a tragic accident. “The prosecutor’s office would not comment on whether the teenage suspect will be charged as a minor or—given the severity of the alleged crime—as an adult.” Three hardcovers of Nobody Knows But You by Anica Mrose Rissi on an old well cover with two stems of black eyed susans and stark shadows. One of the books is open to the title page. The gorgeous and mysterious cover illustration by Hokyoung Kim shows a figure standing on a dock, with their reflection in the rippled water below. Tagline: "The perfect lie begins as truth."
September 8, 2025 at 10:12 PM