My interview on CBS SF Bay Area

I’m still a little stunned to have been interviewed by our CBS News Bay Area affiliate during Adoption Awareness Month. Anchor Len Kiese asked thoughtful, probing questions about my new novel, adoption, Guatemala, family. Thanks for watching here!

Halloween 2020

We’ll remember Halloween 2020 as our year of masks. Mateo and his friend since kindergarten in our visit to a pumpkin patch are seen above. Below, Charlie and I are on a morning walk, pausing in front of a whopper of a pumpkin weighing 769 lbs. You may not see in the photo, but next to the pumpkin is an equally giant menacing cat, which Charlie believes is real and insists on barking at, every time. No trick-or-tricking last night, but fun still had by all.

What would you do?

Another quote I appreciate from Paul LaRosa’s commentary in New York Journal of Books: “O’Dwyer does a compelling job of juxtaposing the adoption experience in a way that is rarely done … The book seems to beg the reader for an answer to the question: What would you do?” Because no answers are simple in adoption. There is no clear conclusion. There is no black-and-white, right or wrong paradigm. There’s only gray. Which I didn’t understand going in. Which I learned only after years of parenting as an adoptive mother. What does it feel like to live in that uncertainty? That’s a question I wanted the reader to consider.

Book launch Thursday, October 1

Hi Friends: Please celebrate my book launch with me! Thursday, October 1 at 6 pm Pacific time. In other circumstances, we’d be throwing a huge party at our house and if you lived close enough, you’d be invited. But as we know, life is different these days. We plan to celebrate anyway! Please share the joy by Zooming in to my livestream virtual book launch on Thursday, October 1 from 6 to 7 pm Pacific time. The event will be hosted by the wonderful Portland indie bookstore, Annie Bloom’s, and feature a conversation between me and another Apprentice House author, Katey Schultz. Signed copies of our books will be available for purchase. Admission is free, but you must register via the Zoom link here. Hope to see you on Thursday!Jessica Annie Bloom’s event.