Rosie Schaap
Author ● Journalist
Teacher ● Writing Coach
Photo credit: Greer McNally
Welcome
I'm pleased to make your acquaintance.
I was a late bloomer as a professional writer. I tried a lot of other jobs first. I was a librarian at a paranormal society. A community organiser. A book and magazine editor. A bartender. A manager of homeless shelters. And then, in my late 30s, I had an idea for a book that I knew I had to write.
Drinking with Men: A Memoir was selected as one of 2013's best books by Library Journal, Maclean's, and National Public Radio, and is an amazon.com "Editors' pick" in the Best Biographies & Memoirs category. My second book, Becoming a Sommelier, was named one of 2019's best wine books in The New York Times. My latest book, The Slow Road North: How I Found Peace in an Improbable Country, came out in August, 2024.
From 2011 to 2017, I was a columnist for The New York Times Magazine, and I've also written for The Irish Times, The New York Times Book Review, Food & Wine, Marie Claire, Saveur, poetryfoundation.org, and Travel + Leisure, among other publications. My personal essays appear in numerous anthologies, including Tales of Two Cities: The Best and Worst of Times in Today's New York, Eat Joy: Stories & Comfort Food from 31 Celebrated Writers and the revised edition of Goodbye to All That: Writers on Loving and Leaving New York.
I've told stories on This American Life and at many live storytelling events, and have been called one of "50 Writers You Need to See Read Live." I love giving readings and talks, so it's likely that I would be delighted to participate in your reading series or festival or panel discussion.
Lately, I've been working on screenplays, too. If I'd known how much fun it is, I wouldn't have waited so long.
Born and raised in New York City, I now live in the Glens of Antrim in Northern Ireland, a terrifically beautiful place you should visit sometime. I enjoy the robins and blackbirds in my backyard, walking in the forest, reading, feeding my friends (and sometimes strangers) the things I cook, teaching, and traveling. I would probably also like writing or editing for your magazine or newspaper, consulting on your manuscript or book proposal, or being graced by your presence in one of my classrooms.
Thanks for stopping by.
My Books
My new book, The Slow Road North: How I Found Peace in an Improbable Country, came out from Mariner Books/HarperCollins in August, 2024. It's about my move to Glenarm--a small, beautiful coastal village in Northern Ireland--the people and culture I've come to know and love here, and the space it gave me to contend with loss and grief. You can read more about the book (and order it) here. 'Schaap’s prose is characterized by well-crafted, even sublime sentences, erudite literary references and sharp, dark humor,' Ann Neumann wrote in The New York Times Book Review, 'You’ll find a fortifying dose of grace in these pages.' And The Irish Times calls The Slow Road North 'a beautiful, unsparing memoir about grief'.
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Becoming a Sommelier, part of Simon & Schuster's 'Masters at Work' series, came out in 2019. In it, I profile two extraordinary—and very different—sommeliers. 'Ms. Schaap...is clear and precise in her writing,' Eric Asimov said in The New York Times. 'She is not part of the wine industry, which permits her to avoid the usual preoccupations with tasting and labels. Instead, she is able to go more deeply into what the job entails and why her subjects are so good at it. If you are curious about life as a sommelier, this charming book makes an easy, nutritious appetizer.'
My first book, Drinking With Men: A Memoir, was published in 2013 by Riverhead Books. Library Journal called it a 'beautifully composed look at a woman's coming to age in a setting more often reserved for men.' At NPR.org, Michael Schaub wrote: 'a wonderfully funny and openhearted book from a generous, charismatic writer...There's no substitute for the kind of community you can find in a good tavern. And no American writer can explain it better than Rosie Schaap.'
Would you like to read something I wrote?
I appreciate your interest.
I may be best known for writing about food and (especially) drink. But I'm proud to be a generalist with bylines in six sections of The New York Times, who can also cover books, art, travel, design, music, and sometimes even sports—because people and the things they make and do are endlessly interesting. Here's a small sampler of my articles, columns, essays, even a poem.
Workshops, Courses, and Coaching
I currently teach on the MA course in creative writing at The Seamus Heaney Centre at Queen's University Belfast, and I regularly lead creative nonfiction and journalism courses online for The Irish Writers Centre. I also sometimes teach online and in-person workshops independently, and I'm always interested in working one-on-one with writers on book proposals, manuscript development, and other projects. Current opportunities are listed below.
LIFE WRITING ON FOOD & DRINK
6-Week Tuesday Workshop
Starts 20 May
5:30-7:30 PM IST/ 12:30-2:30PM ET
on Zoom, via The Irish Writers Centre
When is a dinner more than a dinner? When it’s also a lens through which to see a world, a framework within which to consider ideas and relationships, even a platform from which to advocate for justice. When we write personal essays about food and drink, we are also telling the stories of our lives, and the lives of others. This is a creative nonfiction course, appropriate for essayists, memoirists, journalists— any writer who has ever considered the meaning of a meal.
In this six-week course, we will read and discuss writings by Ciaran Carson, Jessica B. Harris, David Foster Wallace and others, which, taken together, convey some sense of the breadth, depth, and creative range possible in writing about food and drink. Workshop discussions of students’ writing will be at the heart of our two-hour sessions. More info, and registration, here.
ONE-ON-ONE PROJECT COACHING
If you're working on a project (such as a memoir, a book-length work of narrative nonfiction, an essay, a collection of essays), I may be available for one-on-one coaching on Zoom. Contact me to learn more about my approach to project coaching.
Get in touch!
Are you thinking of assigning me a story?
Considering taking a workshop with me?
Would you like help with a book proposal?
Or with a manuscript?
Do you have a gardening tip to share?
A sad old song you want to sing to me?
Great!
Please send me a message. I'll send one back.
If you seem nice.
