Lisa Amico Kristel

News: My story “The Geometry of Shadows” has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize!

And now, the rest… I’ve been a computer programmer, a graphic designer, an adjunct English professor, and a restaurant owner. Through it all, I’ve been a writer, but I only dabbled until quarantine installed me in front of my computer for hours. As trying as the pandemic was, it gave me time to finish stories I’d started long ago. Meanwhile, I pared and polished my novel manuscript, A Boy, A Girl, A Ghost…and Other Recipes, into something so shiny it’s sure to find a home.

My writing ranges from heartfelt creative non-fiction to horror, with a mash-up of emotional and strange in between. You can find my work in LampLight Magazine, Typeset Literary, The Fabulist, Coffin Bell, and others. The links are all here.

So don’t let that smile I wear in my headshot fool you—after reading a few of my stories, my husband has taken to sleeping with one eye open. Still, he’s sticking around. It might be the food.

Our family has always been food-focused, but owning two restaurants took our cooking to the next level. During quarantine we brought it up another notch or two. We have two attorneys and one nurse practitioner for kids, but before that they fulfilled the roles of line cooks, bartenders, and expeditors. (There are only three of them, but they multi-tasked.)

It’s not surprising then, that eating and drinking often find their way into my writing, much as it permeates my thoughts and dreams. (At breakfast: What should we cook for dinner? At dinner: Where should we eat this weekend? And yes, I dream about food.) However, while you may come across some in my stories, you will not find food with a drop of human DNA in my recipe collection.

In November of 2015, my writer friend, Robin Martin, and I launched the #YeahYouWrite Author Series. #YYW features multiple readers, #LiteraryCocktails designed for each author, #OpenMic, and a rapid-fire Q&A about craft. Not surprisingly, dinner is involved. The atmosphere is fun, friendly, and energetic. Since its inception, we have presented almost 200 authors and at least as many books, and we’ve served thousands of dinners and cocktails.

All this happens from my outpost in Oyster Bay, NY, where I live with my husband, Steven, and a dog that isn’t really ours.

So, that’s me: writing & food, books & food, and …food. And also, a dog.