Dear Marianne,*
I am very pleased to hear that you have found a home of whatever sort you choose, in the south of France and also an academic community at that–if you had planned it, it possibly never would have happened. As a wonderer wanderer and experience junkie, I applaud. Given the array of options you have…
4 Interesting, moving, thought-provoking, and beautiful movies; go, see!
This is the same film as the first with the second title. I love Chord of Life because the movie is also about the power of music.
Living, aging; what are you doing?
I am tired of seeing and hearing the word aging. Living, people, that is what we are here to do. I am living in France since late August after 875 fabulous days of living in Spain. I came here to represent the Office of the President at The American College of the Mediterranean and I…
A Serendipitous Saturday in Barcelona
Some days are like this: You are enjoying the last day of a dear friend’s visit, a friend who is also a fan and supporter of your writing, as you are of hers. You hesitate to walk her by the wonderful bookshop backstory to say, This is where I did that event last fall -…
mi amiga marianne
February 11, 2025. Barcelona, in the evening. A chime on my phone, I saw the link you see below and under it the words mi amiga marianne, then another chime: Hello Marianne. I listened to your rendition of the prelude, and first chapter of Lucy go see. It was a beautiful experience. Your writing is…
What does it mean to be American?
Umar Timol is a Mauritian poet, writer, and photographer. He has published four collections of poetry, two novels, and various articles in national and international journals. He has contributed to numerous anthologies in Mauritius and beyond. I met Umar in the fall of 2018 in Iowa City at the International Writing Program at the University of Iowa.…
Moving On, Anew
This slideshow is a fraction of the snapshots from a fraction of my journeys during 2020 – 2023. The first shot is of my feet up in the garden of a Silver Lake sanctuary in Los Angeles while I was musing on where to go next, in between–amid other ordinarily extraordinary things–getting two books out…
The body of Saint Teresa of Avila-did they all want a part of her ecstasy?
Thinking on the woman and her body parts. Our bodies being our own kind of thing. Maybe you know this already. I was set back just now reading about Teresa de Avila’s body parts being cut off and out, and held by different people and in different places–this after her death, and during exhumations, and…
WRITE YOURSELF HOME
Do you have a story inside you? One you would like to tell but are unsure how? Let your voice be the guide. Come home to yourself through writing. Learn how to create a map to discover your hidden treasures as you trace the ways life has taken you. Begin a new journey. Come join…
Talking about home in Barcelona!
Friday, September 27th, 6:30 pm at Backstory Bookshop–C/ de Mallorca, 330 Please join Kristi Hovington and me for a lively and fun discussion about the choices we make, roads we take, and the ways our hearts can shake when we make homes outside the culture we were born into. Insiders and outsiders and being both,…
Shining Solitude
A response to Krista Tippett and On Being’s call for submissions about solitude. August 1, 2017. Gold Coast Studio Chicago. Came upon this the other day and was entranced by this Marianne. Have you ever seen former versions of yourself and thought, wow, I missed that? I mean, I was in there yet I was…
Tell me the one about Satchel Paige again, Dad.
We sat on the swing, eating bing cherries, pushing off the grass, looking out over the valley down deep in which my dad and his mom grew up. “Tell me the one about Satchel Paige again,” I said. “Satchel was up to bat and I was playing centerfield. Satchel’s hit lobbed into centerfield, and was…
Okay, then, VP.
We both like to laugh. We’re brilliant and gutsy. We’re MAFA! Let’s Make America Fun Again!
Maybe it’s time.
Aunt Annie has said more than once I should be president. This is perhaps the optimal moment to announce my candidature. I could govern from Barcelona, for sure I could.
Sometimes
there is a resistance to write at the same time there is a drawing toward the page. deep inside, new understandings are bubbling up from a deeply stirred well, pocking in the heretofore unseen sediment resting at the bottom for god knows how long. the understandings feel icky thus the resistance to touching them, to…
Home in our bodies?
Breaking and entering the land of the free and the home of the brave is a crime. Just finished reading this article about women who have come out to say they have been bodily assaulted by the accused defendant and presidential hopeful actually on trial. They are angry and concerned for themselves and their neighbors…
It’s just one of those things.
You could probably say this about moments of your life while on your way home and it would be true for you, too. This page comes to mind often. It used to be in I am home. and for a while was the opener. After moving it around, I decided it was unnecessary, yet it…
I am home. out there in the world for a year now.
Thank you, readers! Today marks a year since the publication of I am home. A special anniversary because it was also timed to be released on the birthday of Mom’s first child, my eldest brother. His name was Tommy, and I only knew him through photos and stories, and the plant that graces the background…
Some words on I am home. from Utah.
I shot this photo in February 2023, while visiting Bryce Canyon with a friend. It was a trip I wanted to make before leaving the country. And it was amazing and fun to do it in such great company. Maybe my third or fourth time in Utah, a state I came to love on my…
And I was marveled by a poet from Trinidad and Tobago in Iowa. Read her books, too, asap.
This post is long overdue. I’ve had these books on my shelf in Barcelona for months, after a friend of mine from Virginia who lives here now brought them to me after hearing Lauren speak and read from them in Richmond last spring. Lauren is thriving in Virginia now. Way back when I moved back…
Another Direct Connection to Iowa on Independent Bookstore Day! Great new reading
Because it is Independent Bookstore Day and because I have been talking about Iowa stories, go to your favorite bookstore and ask for Laura Farmer’s new book. Her moving stories are set in Iowa and peopled with big-hearted Iowa folks. I was honored to be asked to write a blurb for this wonderful collection of…
Strolling through Barcelona on my way to Iowa.
When I started my meander on this special day, I was unaware that Iowa would appear near the end of it. Roses on a balcony moved me first. As I mentioned before, Sant Jordi is a romantic Catalan holiday that celebrates love and Catalan literature. It is a combination of remembrances from different periods of…
I am home. with a book club in Rhinelander.
We had our book group the other night and it went so well, one of the better discussions we’ve had in a long time. I was really interested to see if there would be a big difference in how other people dealt with the style of the writing and how it sort of jumped back…
I am home. celebrating Sant Jordi and books and roses.
Sant Jordi, or Saint George, is one of Barcelona’s patron saints and he is celebrated on April 23rd each year. The streets of the city fill with stalls celebrating authors, and selling books and roses. It is a romantic and cultural festivity on what is now also World Book Day. To demonstrate their love, people…
I am home. on a flight.
Another from KK’s list of Scintillating Sentences. In the pages of I am home., Marianne often takes risks to live her life wholly. This is one of the storylines which explores the cost of freedom and the power of yes and no.
I am home. with the visionary.
Another from KK’s list of Scintillating Sentences. This is a snippet of conversation between the visionary and Marianne. Read the book and find out if Marianne achieved this aim. You can even enjoy surfing the rough waters with her. Steady now.
What is the book about in 63 words?
I am home. is about freedom and what it means to be a free spirit in this increasingly systemized world. It travels non-linearly through time and place with a 49 year-old long-married woman, mother, daughter, writer, teacher, model/actress, and doctoral student who is in for surprises when she returns to her Iowa hometown after spending…
I am home. for Christmas, on Main Street, at River Lights in Dubuque.
Stop in at River Lights and do all your Christmas shopping this year. This is one of my favorite bookstores in the world. It’s about more than books, just like books are. Find great gift ideas in every corner of the store and enjoy the warm and welcome atmosphere. I am thrilled that I am…
I am home. with questions.
Another from KK’s list of Scintillating Sentences. This excerpt is from page 132.
I am home. as a gift.
Is there someone on your Christmas list who likes to read? Who enjoys true stories? Who loves home, and loves to travel, and wonders about how others live in the world and what freedom costs? Who loves Iowa? Who especially loves the Upper Mississippi Valley of Iowa? And loves and wonders about Spain and Iceland…
I am home. with the plant, giving thanks.
Happy Thanksgiving! I am in Spain, craving warm fixings with loved ones, and giving thanks for family, friendship, resilience, and growth. This is plant that adorns the cover of I am home. It was given to my mother in 1952 at the birth of her firstborn, a son, Tommy. I only knew him through stories…
I am home. on the Ultimate Fall Reading List 2023.
Big thanks to Bridgitte Jackson-Buckley for including I am home. on this list.
I am home. in the library.
Sweet news via Chez Soi Press. I love knowing I am home. will be on the shelf in the Iowa City Public Library, one of the many places where I worked on it. I moved to Iowa City from Chicago with a first draft completed (started in Dubuque and written throughout the Midwest, Iceland, France,…
I am home. in the Little Village.
A big thank you to Sarah Elgatian, Isaac Hamlet, and Little Village Magazine (October 2023) of Iowa City, Iowa.
I am home. in Marco Island, Florida.
“I am well into the book now. It is so brilliant! I feel so many different emotions reading it and I love the bits of irony and humor you bring to the stories, along with the questions you raise. Now that I know how important water was to the story, I am pleased that I…
I am home. with Lucy, go see.
Another from KK’s list of Scintillating Sentences. I like the way these two books call to each other, live with each other, are enriched by each other. Available wherever books are sold.
I am home. in freedom.
“It’s really a book about freedom, about what it takes to live as a free-spirit in this world,” this reader wrote from Chicago. Available wherever books are sold.
I am home. swimming.
As I have mentioned before, there is a lot of water and a lot of swimming in this book. And a lot of a lot, really. Anyway, it was a thrill to be asked to sign it at the pool in front of the Mediterranean in Barcelona last week. And this is another from KK’s…
I am home. on the screen in Kansas.
What a wonderful reception for I am home. from the GO Book Club in Shawnee, Kansas! Because of the time difference between the Kansas City area and Barcelona, I was unable to appear live so I recorded this video in which I answered questions these readers sent me. I could probably write another book to…
Coming back to home.
Another from KK’s list of Scintillating Sentences. This one hints at the humor peppered throughout the book. I love it when readers tell me they laughed out loud while reading. Cried and laughed. Two great releases. A male reader who speaks English as a second language recently wrote, “Yes, some pages made me cry.” “That…
I am home forgetting.
It’s true, I write to remember and to forget. Versatile, useful writing that does so much for the writer, and often and eventually, the reader. And what makes a writer? Writing. It can be a way of remembering, forgetting, playing, imagining, wondering, searching, asking, answering, corresponding, reading, soothing, and more. Write, I say, write. You…
I am home. in collective happiness.
Yet another from KK’s list of Scintillating Sentences. Available wherever books are sold.
Things I saw at home.
Again from KK’s list of Scintillating Sentences. It was shocking, painful, and scary to watch the way some healthcare workers treated my parents and other elders. I love to see elderhood revered and cherished, while I know some older people still need to earn the status of mature elder. No matter our age, we deserve…
You, too?
This one, too, is on KK’s list of Scintillating Sentences. I love it when I learn that someone loves a sentence I considered taking out and finally left in. Available wherever books are sold.
I am home. at the piscina, near the handstand.
“Sometimes you have to flip things around,” this reader said when I told him I loved the handstand in the background of this shot. I love hearing from readers who are reading near water, in the water, in between swims, doing and watching handstands. It fits the book so well. “I just finished your I…
Some people think I’m rich…
Another from KK’s Scintillating Sentences List. Available wherever books are sold.
A question from home.
From KK’s list of Scintillating Sentences. And here is one from my list of favorite songs by Robbie Robertson.
I am home. in great hands.
Montse “…loved the storyline, the way it was written and presented. Very easy to read, and you are hooked from the very first page! Marianne’s writing is simply yummy, and extremely entertaining. I thoroughly enjoyed every page of it and would highly recommend it to everyone. I am home. is a must-read.”
Scintillating Sentences
“Scintillating Sentences” is what one reader calls the three-page list of sentences she underlined as she read, and then sent to me. Rather than posting them all at once, I think I will share them one at a time when the feeling hits. The one I have chosen for today makes me feel good and…
Where the Atlantic Ocean merges with the Caribbean Sea, I am home. with Lucy, go see.
Another reader in Florida sent this image from Miami Beach. She read I am home. first and that made her want to read Lucy, go see. and tell her friends to read them both, too. “Your writing is superb. Your metaphors are really unique and lovely. I had a great time. Honestly didn’t want the books…
I am home. in Florida.
A reader sent this photo from Miami and it has left me speechless for a while. I think about motherhood when I look at it. Then I look at the breasts of what appears to be a child because of its size and what seems to be a breast-less woman holding her, and why do…
I am home. in Holy Hell.
“Holy Hell!” is what I said aloud when I looked at the portrait of St. Agatha holding her breasts on a platter in a chapel dedicated to her within the Royal Palace in Barcelona. It was my introduction to her so I did some research and found out how the story goes. Born in Sicily…
I am home. on Grandview Avenue.
“I loved the book! It was such an easy read. Very authentic and heartfelt. It’s a journey–filled with adventures and challenges–that reminds us home is always in our hearts. Do you remember when I saw you walking on Grandview years ago? I picked you up and we sat on this porch and had a heart-to-heart talk.…
I am home. with Barbie.
Leaving the theater in tears was the last thing I expected when I walked into a Barcelona theater to watch Barbie this afternoon. It was hot, and I wanted coolness, distraction, and to see what so many are talking about. I played with my sister’s hand-me-down Barbies as a girl though have no memory of…
I am home. with Lucy, go see.
I am thrilled to learn that after reading I am home., people are buying Lucy, go see., now available in a second printing and revised edition. These two books enrich each other, and I think it might be fun to read the second one first, and, if you have already read the first one, come…
Inside I am home.
A peek at pages 2 and 3. Imagine me reading these pages in the wee hours in early May at a European Writers’ party in Madrid while accompanied on guitar with French street music. It was the first time I read the book aloud to an audience and it was a joy.
I am home. in the Sunday paper.
Sweet article in the Sunday, July 23rd, Cedar Rapids Gazette by Laura Farmer
I am home. in the book.
A reader recently met with me and showed me all the asterisks and dog-eared pages in the book marking the places that moved her most. It was delightful to find that many of the sentences I had struggled with were in that group. You can probably imagine my pleasure in reading this later: “I am…
I am home. in Santiago de Compostela, on the Camino.
Un camino is a way and camino is also the first person present for walking in the Spanish language. So to say Camino. is to say I walk. El camino is to say the way. Camino el camino. is to say I walk the way. What way? There are many. Following Robert Frost’s adage about…
A Special Anniversary
Today marks a decade since I earned a PhD from the University of Barcelona. Oh, happy day! It feels good to be here in this city of my heart and soul again to celebrate all of the life before, during, and since that moment.
I am home. on Praia de Gures.
Reading is sexy. Just do it. In places like this. it’s lovely to watch someone read. “El problema es cuando cojo tu libro, no puedo dejarlo,” this reader told me. In other words, “The problem is that when I pick up your book, I can’t put it down.”
I am home. on Cies, Atlantic Islands.
“Swimming. Flying in water. Disappearing in water. Being held by water. The buoyancy. The rhythm. I write like I swim and sometimes as I swim.” -MM I love that readers take swimming breaks and come back to I am home., a book with a lot of water in it. And I love Galicia. Available wherever…
I am home. in Barcelona.
One reader wrote to say, “The sentence I most relate to is: ‘I initially chose Barcelona for how I feel when in it: free and connected to something I cannot name or understand.’” Have you ever had that feeling about a place? Barcelona is important in I am home. and in Lucy, go see. I…
I am home. on Fire Hill in Wisconsin.
This reader wrote: “Finished on Fire Hill overlooking Lake Superior. I love the style in which it is written–poetic and lyrical and very soothing. I love how you gave us few words sometimes and let us think about the situation. You put words together in the most beautiful way! Here’s to the success of your…
I am home. in Georgia.
At Decatur Cemetery, this reader found the book an “engaging rollercoaster ride” because she related so much to the narrator’s nomadic life. She read part of it on a lovely porch swing overlooking the cemetery. I like to think the poignant cemetery moments of the book were read on that swing. Georgia is where I…
I am home. in Potsdam.
Would you like it on a lake? Would you like it on a break? Would you like it walking down the road? I like knowing the book has traveled to a region where my ancestors lived. This reader writes from Germany: “I am sitting with your book now, on a patio by the lake outside…
I am home. in New York City.
I am home. in Washington Square Park. Amy “Absolutely loved it! It’s a memoir that feels like how memory works. A series of moments distilled to their poetic essence, full of beauty and grace. What’s not written heightens the poignancy of what is.” Available in hardcover and paperback wherever books are sold.
I am home. in Dubuque.
Who can ask for anything more? One of myriad ways this book can be seen is as a love letter to my family, friends and hometown, and to Northeastern Iowa. Yet also to France, Iceland, Spain, England, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, New York, and California. And many more. I love this planet.
I am home. on the Mediterranean.
This reader on the #mediterranean loves, like many other readers, the pace and clip and love and life on these #pages. #beachread #summer #greatbook #travel #lifewriting Join the conversation: welcomewonder@mariannemaili.com “The summer wind came blowing in from across the sea…” Can you hear Frank Sinatra singing it as you look at this photo? Available in…
On the first page, I am home.
#firstpage of I am home. #paris seems #happy I’m back. #travel #home with me. #love life. I would love to know that #reading this #book makes you feel glad to be #alive. welcomewonder@mariannemaili.com a #moving book. #Life itself is a #moveable #feast Available in hardcover and paperback wherever books are sold.
I am home. on the train in Spain.
#reading a #book on the #train in #spain a #goodbook – #pleasure “I am #hooked on the first #page” another reader wrote. #love #home #kindness – it’s all in here with #more Available in hardcover and paperback wherever books are sold.
J’arrivais pas à laisser ce livre.
“J’arrivais pas à laisser ce livre,” the message said. “I couldn’t leave this #book,” is the literal translation and I like it. But do we leave #books ? So I guess it would be “I couldn’t put this book down.” #home#love#bookreview#lifewriting#paris#reykjavik#barcelona#dubuque#chicago#madison#iowacity#iowa#travel#family#friendship#wisconsin this #story is filled with #beautiful#places and #people#kindnessmatters Available in hardcover and paperback wherever…
I am home. on Passeig de Sant Joan.
I am home. in a #green mood in #Barcelona. I #love hearing from #readers. Things like “I’ve been loving every sentence. Reading it slowly to make it last.” and “I’m absolutely #loving it! #Powerful#writing.” This makes me feel so good after all the sentence crafting. Sometimes it feels like surgery or that game we played…
I am home. on Paseo de Gracia.
I am home. on a lovely terrace in #Barcelona (an important place in this book) with Marina who wrote to me in French and English about it: “Ohhh, comme j’aime ton livre! Le rythme…le flow…les jolis souvenirs…raconté légèrement…la poésie…tu es excellente ma chère!!! Je te retrouve dans ces pages, ton livre te ressemble … I’m…
I am home. in Chicago.
I am home. in #Chicago on Andrew’s terrace where he and the frog are reading near #water in the #light of June. The #book is filled with sensations of water and light and Chicago is in there, too. Thanks @andrewhayespr. Thanks, Chicago for all you gave me! To Andrew for his #kindness, another thing the…
What I am reading now/Ce que je suis en train de lire!
#jerecommande #goodbook #livre #delamaindunefemme #charlottecorday @astriggi
I am home. in Virginia.
I am home. in #Richmond, #Virginia! with #friends. As the book connects worlds… I met artist Kirana Stover in #Sitges, Spain, in 1997 and then I met poet Lauren Alleyne in #Dubuque in 2012. In 2023, Kirana went to Richmond to be near her #mother in #hospice (like what happens in I am home.) and…
I am home. in Canada.
I am home. in #ottawa#ontario#canada . This reader loves the poetry on the pages and the way that despite the difficulties on them, they are light and life-giving. #summerreading#goodbooks#love#home#beautytips#joy#grief#wonder#travel
I am home. in Jamaica.
“Look what book traveled to Ochos Rios with me! It is so interesting to read about such an adventurous life. Marianne is an inspiration from modeling to writing to translating to teaching. She has seen and learned so much. There’s nothing she can’t do! I finished the book and loved every minute while I was…
I am home. in Spain.
I am home. in Katy’s #hammock #reading in #santperederibes #catalunya #spain . A perfect hammock read! #books #goodvibes #home #summerreading #beauty #wonder #joy #grief #inspiration #liveyourownlife #vulnerability #strength #life This reader finds it a great read for starting a new chapter in life. “Enjoying your book, the moments are so real and surreal, like life.”
I am home. in Colorado.
I am home. in #Colorado, waiting to be #read. #goodbook #home #bookstagram #book #books #beauty #love #grief #inspiration #moving #keepmoving #wonder #joy I am home. Chez Soi Press. 2023 Such a delight to hear from readers around the world upon reception of the book, where it is waiting for them, how they feel while and after reading. Thanks so much to you all. If you’d like to send a photo…
I am home. in La Rochelle, France.
Chère Marianne, J’ai fini la lecture de ton livre que j’ai beaucoup aimé pour différentes raisons. It’s a real journey for the reader, who really gets to experience what the narrator feels and goes through. It is full of sensations, sensations of nature, sensations of water, of light, sensations of the body The narrator is…
I am home. on the Mississippi.
I am home. resting between tastings amid beauty in a home overlooking a beloved American river in the Upper Mississippi Valley. #goodbooks #bookstagram #bookstoread #bookrecommendation #mississippi #riverlife #beauty #wonderful_places #joy #grief #adventure #travel #iowahomeland #iowa #france #spain #iceland #midwest #midweststories #worldstories #philosophy #love #barcelonalovers Available in hardcover and paperback wherever books are sold.
I am home. on an Iowa porch in June.
I am home. resting on an Iowa porch in June. This reader loved it and “immensely enjoyed ” the format. “I could read a few pages here and there and always come back to it and easily get back in.” She is a fan of page 7 among others. #goodbooktoread#booklover#bookstagram#book#bookbar#booklovers#bookrecommendations#booklove#truestory#iowa#france#iceland#barcelona#eros#voice#wound#beauty#wonder#joy#love#home#funny#rich#deep#intimate#inspiration#generosity#grief#sensuality I am home. Chez Soi…
I am home. in Helsinki.
I am home. in Helsinki! with Paul who considers it a moving telling with piercing insights and even has a favorite sentence which is also one of mine. He loved the kaleidoscope format. Do you have a favorite sentence? #helsinki #goodbooktoread #greatbook #bookrecommendations #truestory #beauty #wonder #love #joy #sensuality #grief #finland #travel #adventure #home
I am home. in Paris.
I am home. in Paris with Patricia! The book opens in Paris Patricia finds the book #inspiring #lyrical and #poetic and enjoys the constant presence of nature in its pages. She honors it by calling this #remembrance a pastoral #masterpiece! Thank you @triciakilleen #bookrecommendations#greatbook#nonfiction#kaleidoscope#love#grief#beauty#wonder#joy#paris#france#reading#travel#home “Friend and author Marianne Maili’s I am home. is a page-turner…
Selling out at River Lights!
One paperback and one hardcover left on the shelf at River Lights Bookstore! More will arrive – but you can still walk in and get a copy today, I think– maybe call first. Remember phone calls? River Lights Bookstore – 1098 Main Street – Dubuque, Iowa +1 563-556-4391
I am home.
I am home. is now available internationally for pre-order in hardcover and paperback in English everywhere books are sold. April 30th is the publication date. Just ask for it at my hometown favorite independent bookstore, River Lights in Dubuque, and other favorites like Prairie Lights in Iowa City, City of Asylum Books in Pittsburgh, Unabridged…
More good news
Lucy, go see. is now available to thousands of new readers in the state of California via Indie California, a collection of books from local indie authors available exclusively on the BiblioBoard Library mobile and web platform. With just one click, Lucy’s journey is yours! http://library.biblioboard.com/content/ec43dfe7-c0b0-46fe-a9a6-8e0f2a7585ed
Lucy, go see. featured in June Audiobook Month!
From World Radio Paris commentator Patricia Killeen : ‘Lucy, go see.’ – one of the best reads ever! And now the audio version, by the award winning author herself, is captivating – Maili is also an actress, which adds so much to the audio – Love how she interprets the voice of Bill, the sleazy…
Back on the screen
I talk to myself often. Yesterday morning, when this popped into my Instagram feed, I said, “Well, now, look at you.” Sweet to be back in the acting saddle again, for a bit, after a while. And with 4th Street Productions in Long Beach, a great group with great spirit. I hope this makes you…
Revision in the Desert
A soothing breeze. Stillness. Color. Space and time. On a Spanish-named street, Calle Corte de Moda (that could be translated as Fashionable Street), I look up from writing and see the camel tattoo on my foot. I am in the California desert on a Spanish-named street, finishing a story about leaving Spain. I find myself…
Philosophical Research.
I came across this draft of a post today–near the end of the year–of a moment during the middle. July 9. This was after I was interviewed by Brooke MacBeth at The Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles. It was one of the best nights of my life, and when Karen Seeberg (friend pictured here)…
Marianne Maili 