Tom McAllister

This is the page where I tell you who I am and how I got to the internet.

I'm the author of four books:

• My book of essays, It All Felt Impossible, will be published by Rose Metal Press in April 2025. Many details TBA still, but here’s the official announcement of RMP acquiring it.

• My second novel, How to Be Safe was published by Liveright in April 2018, and got starred reviews in Library Journal, Kirkus, and Booklist. Lots of other people liked it too. It was translated intro French by Cherche Midi publishers. More details here

• My first novel, The Young Widower's Handbook was published by Algonquin in February 2017, and translated into German by Hoffman und Campe. Publisher's Weekly called it "a remarkable debut." Learn more about it here.

• My memoir Bury Me in My Jersey was published by Villard in 2010. It's still available as an e-book.

My short stories and essays have been published widely, and my short story "Things You're Not Proud of" was included in The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2015. Here is a (probably incomplete) list of things I've written online: 

• Jerry & Axl (non-fiction)

• Lawn Skeletons (non-fiction)

• When we used to Glow (non-fiction)

• A number of short memoir pieces, collected in this blog post (non-fiction)

• Garfields in summer (fiction)

• On Broad (fiction)

• Dollar Dog Day (fiction)

• Trade Deadline (fiction)

• Eight Scenes from the Life of a Professional Raven (fiction)

• Acknowledgments (non-fiction)

• Halloween Glossary D-H (non-fiction)

• On the Way to the Killing Spree, The Shooter Stops for Pizza (fiction)

• Podcasts and Literary Criticism (non-fiction)

• The Least Authentic of All Experiences (non-fiction)

• See You in A While (non-fiction)

• What it Feels Like (fiction)

• Hyperbolic Preening: The Desperate Lives of Sports Mascots (non-fiction)

• Who Will Buy Your Book? (non-fiction)

Along with Mike Ingram, I co-host the Book Fight podcast, which started in April 2012 and posts new episodes every other Monday (plus bonus Patreon episodes on the off weeks). We try to make book discussions accessible, funny, and more interesting than a freshman lit seminar. It's fun. An iTunes reviewer says, "Listening to Tom and Mike feels like eavesdropping on the most interesting conversation at a party." In 2015, we won a Philly Geek Award for Best Streaming Media Project. This review on Oprah Daily described the show like this: “Refreshingly candid, intensely thoughtful, and appropriately goofy, this podcast will have you laughing out loud.”

I also work as the nonfiction editor at the literary magazine and small press Barrelhouse. We publish online issues, print issues, and books, and run a ton of different readings, conferences, and other community events. I'm lucky to be able to work with a group of talented, generous, creative, weirdos who I think of as a second family. 

I grew up in Philly and graduated from La Salle University in 2004. I received an MFA from the University of Iowa, and until 2024, I was a Professor of Instruction in Temple University's English Department. In 2024, I started as an Assistant Teaching Professor at Rutgers-Camden, where I teach undergraduates and MFA students.

I live in South Jersey now, just outside of Philly with my wife, who is very good and surely hates how many pictures of her are on this website. 

I used to be very active on Twitter, but now I’m not. I am on Bluesky, in case that works out. I'm also on Instagram.

If you're interested in having me speak at your event, talk to your class, or participate in your writing conference, please contact me at tom.mcallister8 (at) gmail