Carolyn McGrath is a writer of fiction and non-fiction. 

In 2023 her book Two Faces of the Moon – A Small Island Memoir was released by Brandylane Publishers. 

Her collection of short fiction, entitled ROWING BACKWARD, will be available sometime this winter 2025-6.

ROWING BACKWARD is a collection of 14 tragicomic short stories that will remind you that life is full of surprises. You know who you are and where you've been, but do you know where you're going? People wake up one morning and find themselves no longer young and are astonished. Rich New Yorkers in Queens; a jealous man in Florida; a football coach in the upper Midwest; a caregiver in Ontario; and more, all facing life's slippery slopes as they age. Suddenly every day becomes a reorientation, a new face in the mirror, a step onto unknown territory. A chance to catch up with who you’re meant to be…in the end. Through a broad range of style and frequent humor, McGrath plays with the question “What’s life all about and what do we do about it?” 

McGrath has a degree in Classics from the University of Iowa, an M.A. in Creative Writing, and was on the faculty for twenty-five years in the Dept. of English at Stony Brook University where she directed Stony Brook’s $1000 Short Fiction Prize for undergraduates in the U.S. and Canada. She now lives in Charlottesville, Virginia, where she has taught and formed a book club in a high security prison for women.

***