Amy Crider
Playwright and Novelist
Literary event with my poet sister Joan Baranow! See here.
Welcome to the website of playwright and novelist Amy Crider. Contact: crider@amycrider.com.
Kells, a novel of the eighth century, is now available for pre-order from your favorite book outlets. The release date is October 24, 2023.
The sweeping tale of a monk who longs to create the beautiful text that would become known as The Book of Kells, this book took many years of research, including two trips to the remote island of Iona, and a medieval ink-making session with members of the SCA.
Though their stories have been lost to history, many of the named characters actually existed. The monks Connachtach and Cellach, the Abbot Bresal, the tutor of Charlemagne Alcuin, the merchant Isaac, and the wives of Charlemagne, all come to life in this epic novel.
Disorder, a murder mystery, won the University of New Orleans Press Lab Prize. It is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Bookshop, and can be ordered at your local bookstore. It is also available for Kindle, and the audio book is read by Obie award-winning actress Mia Barron.
Reviews for Disorder:
Publishers Weekly: "The ingenious plot will keep the reader guessing. Psychological thriller fans will want to check this out."
Foreword Reviews: "Tender and tortured in equal measure, Amy Crider's Disorder is a mystery that gradually reveals itself to be a perceptive character study." 5 stars
"Honest and riveting." Sara Paretsky, creator of V. I. Warshawski.
Plays:
Please visit the "Plays" page for a complete list of my works.
My drama podcast is here: Continuous Dream, or if you prefer Apple Podcasts, here.
My YouTube channel is here.
Metadata had its world premiere in 2021. Here's a video of the play. Clubbed Thumb Theatre said of it: "It's at once a rivetingly paranoid, gently Kafka-esque fable for the digital age, and a very grounded, lovingly-observed portrait of a fraying relationship."
Fourteen won the Tennessee Williams One Act Play Contest. It can be viewed here. Judge Peter Hagan said, "It's very moving... it's sweet... I laughed out loud... Amy Crider is a real playwright."
Born in Ohio in 1961 and raised in rural upstate New York, Amy Crider earned a BA in theater from Goddard College, then an MA in education, and didn't return to theater again until 2008, with the writing program at Second City. She spent ten years with Chicago Dramatists, capping her studies in their first Master Class.
"The priest doesn't save you by his sermon. He saves you because water is turned into wine and wine is turned into blood. You are saved through wonder. Theater is that kind of wonder."