Amanda Cockrell
amandacockrell.bsky.social
Amanda Cockrell
@amandacockrell.bsky.social
Author
Can’t wait for this!
In just 🌟ONE MONTH 🌟BBB is BBBack! Join us on 1/20 at 7pm at Barrow's to hear tales from @amandacockrell.bsky.social @ellenkushner.bsky.social @caitlinrozakis.bsky.social and @michaelswanwick.bsky.social ! Sips, stories and a salon-like atmosphere -- don't miss it! 🍸📖🎙️

More: BrooklynBooksBooze.com
December 20, 2025 at 5:11 PM
Dogma wishes one and all a happy holiday. She has already destroyed her first squeaky toy. It lasted 20 minutes.
December 18, 2025 at 3:52 PM
Can’t wait to be part of this!
December 18, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Christmas 1961 when I was 13. That’s me on the horse, my father and LA friends who came up to Ojai for Xmas, along with relatives and courtesy uncles and an overrun of cousins and extra dogs. We talked about politics and books and Hollywood, which was the family business. I loved it.
December 13, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Still timely. Getting timelier by the day.
December 13, 2025 at 11:34 PM
Here we come a-wassailing. The Welsh have much better wassailing traditions than we do.
December 6, 2025 at 12:50 AM
I got to catch up with Kimberly McBroom at WDBJ-7 last week and talk about my new novel about the Hollywood blacklist and why we ought to be paying attention to what went on then.
www.wdbj7.com/2025/11/25/h...
Hometown author to release new book on the 1950s Hollywood blacklist
Roanoke-based writer tackles the Hollywood blacklist of the 1950s.
www.wdbj7.com
December 1, 2025 at 2:54 PM
I had great time talking with Rob and Jen. s3qx53.podbean.com
November 19, 2025 at 8:54 PM
Backyard wildlife report. We’ve had possums, and the groundhogs and skunks are regulars, but this is the first raccoon I’ve seen in the yard and I fear the days of goldfish pond may be numbered.
November 12, 2025 at 10:48 PM
Happy to be among the bunch of authors having a book sale (and holiday shopping opportunity) this Saturday, November 15, 11:30-1:30 at the Salem Museum. Portraits by the brilliant Patrick Harrington, who will have his own books there.
November 9, 2025 at 6:51 PM
The traditional “unboxing” video!
November 1, 2025 at 5:00 PM
We have moved the papyrus indoors for the winter. Because the cats insist on chewing on it, which makes them throw up, but they don't care, the papyrus lives in the bathroom, thus adding that air of swamp chic that we all strive for. 
October 28, 2025 at 1:12 AM
October 27, 2025 at 8:03 PM
I was heartened by the huge turnout in Roanoke yesterday. Lots of kids, dogs, silly costumes, and determination that we have had enough.
October 19, 2025 at 7:18 PM
I had a great conversation with Rob Fredette on his podcast Hodgepod: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a...
October 15, 2025 at 3:09 PM
Kristina Gorcheva-Newberry, author of The Orchard:
“Inspired by true events, rich with historical detail, a profound, unsettling, and captivating look at Hollywood and the Red Scare. In this harsh reality, this era crumbling under the weight of hatred and authoritarianism, as timely as memorable.”
October 9, 2025 at 12:55 PM
I have tremendous admiration for Peter Coyote as a writer, an actor, and a social conscience, so I am extremely grateful for this review of "Are You Now or have You Ever Been?"
September 20, 2025 at 7:57 PM
The WGA has seen this before. If you don’t know what the Hollywood blacklist was, please look it up.
September 18, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Thrilled by this review from Elizabeth Poliner.

…Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been? reveals
the heartbreak behind a legendary film star’s desire to be buried in her backyard…with the sweep of history—especially the McCarthy era’s “Red Scare”—and remarkable sense of place…wonderful, unique read.
September 16, 2025 at 6:43 PM
This promo video I made for the new book seems horrendously prophetic.
September 14, 2025 at 5:02 PM
The new blacklist. The last time we were asked to turn in people who didn’t agree with the government line, teachers lost their jobs and freelance writers and such lost their careers. I just wrote a damn novel about it. It’s hideously familiar.
September 13, 2025 at 4:24 PM
September 10, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Are You Now…? takes us into and through the Hollywood blacklist, several love stories, a posthumous set of illegal instructions, bonds of family and friendship. Most of all it’s about Liza Jane, a heroine changing from decade to decade, always five strides ahead of her time.
—Liz Rosenberg
September 8, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Thanks to Elizabeth Dulemba for letting my adult novel visit her kidlit blog! hollinskidlit.substack.com/p/amanda-coc...
Amanda Cockrell's ARE YOU NOW OR HAVE YOU EVER BEEN?
Hollins children's literature professor is celebrating her latest book
hollinskidlit.substack.com
September 4, 2025 at 11:44 PM
Now available for pre-order! At all the usual sources but bookshop.org will benefit a local bookstore.
September 4, 2025 at 6:06 PM