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Anica Mrose Rissi

@anicarissi.bsky.social

Author of books for kids & teens · Fan of dogs & ice cream · Faculty at VCFA WCYA Most recent book: GIRL REFLECTED IN KNIFE (2026) ⭐️ "Breathless, mesmerizing." --Kirkus, starred review https://anicarissi.com/ https://thisistheeavesdrop.com/

821 Posts2114 Follower1352 Folgt
jessamyn@librarian.bsky.social · 5d ago

I work at a public library. People who want to use AI seem to have no trouble doing so. People who don't want to use AI have a harder time. I crowdsourced and then finalized this document "How to disable or avoid intrusive AI" and then gave it a short URL: notoai.org Please pass along if it's useful

An aircraft passenger oxygen mask: a drop down passenger mask with air bag and yellow plastic mouth and nose cover, oxygen tube has been cut; Demonstration model used by flight attendant crew for passenger instruction. Has text on the side indicating that it's non-functional.
Anica Mrose Rissi@anicarissi.bsky.social · last wk.

This @cantkill.bsky.social No Fences Review rec of my band's new album (full of songs I cowrote and on which I play fiddle) feels as great as a twirl on the dance floor. As Bob Wills would say: "ah-haa!" (And you really should click through to watch the Lydia Ricci dino video.)

No Fences Review logo Owen Lake & the Tragic Loves – “Over You” (from Bury Deep My Heart, 2026) When not dressed up like a midcentury country & western star, Owen Lake goes by the title Dr. Jeffrey Snyder, Director of Electronic Music in the Department of Music at Princeton University. These roles might suggest some seriously conflicting skill sets. But the wonder of Snyder’s work on Bury Deep My Heart, his third album in Tragic Loves mode over the last couple decades, is how warmly his drum programs, synth bass lines and bespoke gadgets such as the “Electrosteel” compliment his country melodies and themes, as well as the traditional color instruments like fiddle and pedal steel that he also uses. What I feared would be some sort of sneering art-project novelty is, in other words, a damn good country album. The more I listen, the more I like everything here, but a couple of standouts include the Outlaw-on-the-dancefloor title track and a country duet called “Let’s Go Back” (Not important, but… Its electronic pulse combined with its dinosaur-themed video gave me not unpleasant flashbacks to David Van Teighem’s These Things Happen!) I think my favorite cut here is “Over You,” which rolls along like Human League gone country. In a voice that’s not twangy in the least but still plenty lonesome, Owen Lake calls up his ex, Evaleen, to inform her he’s finally over her. Sounds suspicious to me. Evaleen will be forgiven if she thinks he still cares. – DC (Thanks to Phil Overeem for the heads up) Embedded YouTube link for Over You.
Charles Hughes@charleshughes2.bsky.social · last wk.

New at No Fences Review: @cantkill.bsky.social & I are back with fresh Turn It Up recs. New stuff from Shania Twain & Tanya Tucker, Charli XCX, and Aaron Lee Tasjan, plus an archive treasure from Bob Seger, a Neptune returns, and more! Plus reading recs. Please share & subscribe.

Anica Mrose Rissi@anicarissi.bsky.social · last wk.

Thrilled to see one of the songs from Owen Lake and the Tragic Loves' new album, Bury Deep My Heart, on this playlist. (I cowrote all the songs and play fiddle throughout the record, which you can find in all the usual music-listening places.) Thanks, @glidemag.bsky.social!

Owen Lake and The Tragic Loves – “Wrong About Worse” Bury Deep My Heart Contemporary country has never immersed itself in tradition the way it does when Owen Lake and The Tragic Loves step into a recording booth, and their anticipated debut did not disappoint. Bury Deep My Heart pays a twangy homage to the past without directly mimicking it, as Lake and his band spin hypnotic twang into moving anthems for the heart to march to. “Wrong About Worse” throws caution to the wind with harmonies that flourish and lyrics that detail possible regret.
Glide Magazine@glidemag.bsky.social · 2w ago

Excavating a hectic New Music Friday, our team members have unearthed refreshing jazz, moved rocks to find some exhilarating indie rock, and taken pickaxes to boulders to find the simplistic, guitar-driven rock of the future. glidemagazine.com/328051/caust...

Peter Kirn@pkirn.bsky.social · last wk.

Electro-country infused with original instruments -- Electrobass, Electrosteel, and Vocodec. Jeff Snyder (of Snyderphonics, Princeton U) and Anica Mrose Rissi remind us that digital can still go handmade and country -- and Lydia Ricci brings the whole thing to life with toy dinos.

Owen Lake and the Tragic Loves have the cutest dinosaur music video - CDM Create Digital Music

Owen Lake is back -- the alias of Jeff Snyder, who in these parts is best known for Snyderphonics, MPE innovator and Manta creator (of Princeton University). Here, we get twee-and-western, electro-cou...

cdm.link

Laura Seay@texasinafrica.bsky.social · 3w ago

My 12th grade English teacher gave a brilliant piece of advice on our last day of school. She suggested that we read a book we had hated at some point in our education & see what we thought about it now. I try to do that every few years. It's amazing how age & perspective change opinions.

Sara Century@saracentury.bsky.social · 3w ago

I understand that it sucks to have to read a book you didn't choose as a kid but when people are like 40 and still going, "well assigned reading turned me off from reading" it's like, ok but you're 40. No one has assigned you a book in like 20 years.

Anica Mrose Rissi@anicarissi.bsky.social · 4w ago

Can't wait to discuss the challenges & thrills of writing one's way through the middle of a manuscript (the murky, the magical, and everything in between) with @jverchwrites.bsky.social, @magpiewrites.bsky.social, and Amy Jo Burns. Join us for an evening of lively discussion & creative community 📚♥️

The Second Installment of

Thurs 7/30 @ 6:00PMLabyrinth Books, 122 Nassau Street Join acclaimed authors Amy Jo Burns (Wait for Me), Anica Mrose Rissi (Girl Reflected in Knife), John Vercher (Devil Is Fine), and Alexandra ...

labyrinthbooks.com

Anica Mrose Rissi@anicarissi.bsky.social · 4w ago

Can't wait to discuss the challenges & thrills of writing one's way through the middle of a manuscript (the murky, the magical, and everything in between) with @jverchwrites.bsky.social, @magpiewrites.bsky.social, and Amy Jo Burns. Join us for an evening of lively discussion & creative community 📚♥️

The Second Installment of

Thurs 7/30 @ 6:00PMLabyrinth Books, 122 Nassau Street Join acclaimed authors Amy Jo Burns (Wait for Me), Anica Mrose Rissi (Girl Reflected in Knife), John Vercher (Devil Is Fine), and Alexandra ...

labyrinthbooks.com

Celeste Pewter@celestepewter.bsky.social · 4w ago

ICYMI: my first book made its way into the world yesterday! You can buy it at any major retailer. Please let me know if you see it in the wild and/or if you request it of your library!

Celeste Pewter@celestepewter.bsky.social · 4w ago

THE GREAT PUMPKIN PANCAKE PARTY is out in the world! This book is about food and family, and the traditions that help us become who we are. Thank you to everyone who has preordered, requested it from the library, shared it, reviewed it, or cheered it on. It means more than I can say.

A copy of The Great Pumpkin Pancake Party by Celeste Pewter, illustrated by Kelly Wu, sits on an outdoor metal table at sunset. The cover shows a young girl and an older man sharing a towering stack of pumpkin pancakes, surrounded by pumpkins, lanterns, bunting, chopsticks, and cozy autumn decorations. The warm golden light gives the book a soft release-day glow.
Anica Mrose Rissi@anicarissi.bsky.social · 4w ago

If you like “wonderful and whimsical” (BookPage) picture books with “brilliant illustrations and silly hijinks” (BookRiot) “bound to make any child giggle” (Deseret News), I hope you’ll pick up a copy (or three!) and enjoy Zach’s and my “over-the-top sensibilities that mesh fantastically” (NYTimes)

Praise for The Teacher's Pet "Very funny....Cut from Amelia Bedelia's cloth." --Publishers Weekly, starred review "Wonderful and whimsical....Irresistible illustrations....There's nothing average about this madcap classroom adventure." --BookPage "Highly recommended. Perfect for classroom read-alouds and lessons on problem-solving or pets." --School Library Journal "Rissi, with her edge-of-grossout humor, and OHora, with his giant-headed, candy-colored people, have over-the-top sensibilities that mesh fantastically." --The New York Times Book Review.A very good dog next to a paperback copy of the very good book The Teacher's Pet, written by Anica Mrose Rissi, illustrated by Zachariah OHora.
Anica Mrose Rissi@anicarissi.bsky.social · 4w ago

Fun fact: It was a complete surprise to me, the author of the book, when I saw Zachariah OHora's early sketches and learned what Bruno, the class tadpole, would grow up to be. My art note said only: “Whatever Bruno is, he’s most definitely not a frog,” and I absolutely love how Zach ran with that.

Left side of an interior spread from The Teacher's Pet, written by Anica Mrose Rissi, illustrated by Zachariah OHora. Text: "Our teacher was right. Bruno grew and grew. and grew. And grew." Art: The Mr. Rogers-like teacher at the front of the classroom, using an enormous hippo's side as a chalkboard. The kids in the foreground look appropriately alarmed.Right side of that same interior spread from The Teacher's Pet. Text: "Everyone could see that Bruno was trouble. Everyone except Mr. Stricter." Art: Bruno the hippo crunches on the chair of a kid who is trying to pull it out of the hippo's mouth. Other kids in the foreground look dismayed.
Anica Mrose Rissi@anicarissi.bsky.social · 4w ago

My favorite review of the book (a ⭐️ from PW) gave me way too much credit for that: “Rissi’s very funny text is a model of understatement and restraint (the word hippo never appears), allowing OHora to make the most of the story’s physical comedy in thickly painted scenes spiked with neon orange.”

The Teacher’s Pet

This hilarious tale by debut picturebook author Anica Morse Rissi, brilliantly illustrated by Zachariah O'Hora, will keep kids giggling page after page as th...

hachettebookgroup.com

Anica Mrose Rissi@anicarissi.bsky.social · 4w ago

As I tell my MFA students—and anyone else who asks—always leave space for the illustrator! After creating this book with Zach and seeing the incredible/hilarious ways he chose to tell the visual story that I *never* would have thought of, my art notes for future manuscripts got even sparser.

Zachariah OHora and Anica Mrose Rissi, grinning at a book festival that happened when they were babies (2018-ish).Anica Mrose Rissi holding a copy of her and Zachariah OHora's picture book, The Teacher's Pet, which is out in paperback today with a fun new cover.
Anica Mrose Rissi@anicarissi.bsky.social · last mo.

One of the luckiest parts of my writing life is getting to be in regular conversation with A-M McLemore @exrpan.bsky.social @ryansara.bsky.social & @novarensuma.bsky.social. This season, we're talking about how we’re making space for creativity & adjusting to the unexpected in this particular moment

Issue 4: Routines & Disruptions

A quarterly conversation about process and craft with authors Anna-Marie McLemore, Emily X.R. Pan, Anica Mrose Rissi, Sara Ryan, and Nova Ren Suma.

thisistheeavesdrop.com

Anica Mrose Rissi@anicarissi.bsky.social · last mo.

One of the luckiest parts of my writing life is getting to be in regular conversation with A-M McLemore @exrpan.bsky.social @ryansara.bsky.social & @novarensuma.bsky.social. This season, we're talking about how we’re making space for creativity & adjusting to the unexpected in this particular moment

Issue 4: Routines & Disruptions

A quarterly conversation about process and craft with authors Anna-Marie McLemore, Emily X.R. Pan, Anica Mrose Rissi, Sara Ryan, and Nova Ren Suma.

thisistheeavesdrop.com

Anica Mrose Rissi@anicarissi.bsky.social · 2mo ago

9 years ago today, Zachariah OHora's & my THE TEACHER’S PET hatched, smashed & rwarrrrred into the world to prove that a hippo does not make a good class pet. (Sorry, Bruno.) The hardcover is now a collector’s edition (out of print), but on July 7, it comes out in paperback with a fun new cover!

Selfie of the author holding the two editions of THE TEACHER'S PET while her face gets a lick from a very good dog. Hardcover of The Teacher's Pet by Anica Mrose Rissi, illustrated by Zachariah OHora, showing the teacher, Mr. Stricter, holding a small aquarium, looking serene/oblivious, while the horrified kids notice chomps taking out of the teacher's desk, the chalkboard, and a book. Paperback of The Teacher's Pet showing the same concerned kids and a delighted teacher, who is petting/praising the enormous hippo who has his front legs up on the teacher's desk.Zachariah OHora and Anica Mrose Rissi in Books of Wonder in 2017, showing case cover art from the hardcover of The Teacher's Pet (the front depicts Bruno the hippo with his mouth closed; the back depicts him with his mouth wide open).Zachariah OHora and Anica Mrose Rissi at a school visit in 2017, talking with a gym full of kids, many of whom are raising their hands. On the screen behind them is the cover of The Teacher's Pet.
Mo Ryan@moryan.bsky.social · 2mo ago

The boring but necessary solution to having cool art is affordable places to live, reasonably priced groceries, free health care & not weighing graduates down w backbreaking debt before they even graduate. People can be weird freaks & still create but we get less weird cool stuff if they can't eat