Cai Emmons is the author of several books of fiction: His Mother’s Son, The Stylist, Weather Woman, Vanishing, and Sinking Islands, as well as the novels Livid and Unleashed, both forthcoming in 2022. Winner of the Oregon Book Award, the Leapfrog Press Fiction Contest, a Nautilus Award, and finalist for the Missouri Review Editor’s Prize as well as the Narrative Magazine Fiction Prize, Emmons was also short-listed for the Sarton Award and nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her essays and stories have appeared in such publications as TriQuarterly, LitHub, Electric Literature, The LA Times, and Ms. Magazine. A summa cum laude graduate of Yale College, Emmons holds MFA degrees in film and fiction. Before turning to fiction Cai wrote for theater, film, and television. Two of her plays—Mergatroid and When Petulia Comes—were produced in New York theaters. She wrote for the TV show The Trials of Rosie O’Neill, and has optioned numerous feature-length screenplays. She has taught at several colleges and universities, mostly recently in the University of Oregon’s Creative Writing Program. She lives in Eugene, Oregon.
LIVID
A woman who is suffering from a tragic loss is placed on a jury with her estranged ex-husband. "A page-turning tale of love and loss, guilt and innocence, and those pivotal life moments where everything changes." -Lisa Genova
Released September 27, 2022!
Red Hen Press
Unleashed
UNLEASHED, By award-winning author Cai Emmons, is an ambitious and transcendent novel set against the backdrop of California’s wildfire season in which a family in crisis is thrust on a collision course with the world around them that has an outcome beyond their wildest imaginings.
Released September 6, 2022!
Dutton
Sinking Islands
Sinking Islands continues the story of Bronwyn Artair, a scientist who possesses the power to influence the natural forces of the Earth. After several successful interventions, including one in Siberia, she has gone into hiding, worried about unintended consequences of her actions, as well as about the ethics of operating solo. But circumstances call her to action again, and an idea takes shape: What if she could impart her skill to other people?
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Vanishing
Released March 2020. Sophisticated and bright with promise…these stories elucidate incredibly difficult-to-articulate topics such as jealousy, self-hatred, unlikely connection and friendship.… If a writer's job is to make the unseen visible, the stories in VANISHING are flashlights, illuminating the subtle, enormous tragedies we humans encounter every day.
—Marie-Helene Bertino, author of 2 A.M. at the Cat's Pajamas.
Weather Woman
Weather Woman is the story of meteorologist Bronwyn Artair who discovers she has the power to change the weather.
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The Stylist
Hayden Risley—Harvard drop-out-turned-hairstylist, and estranged from her father and two sisters—has found a satisfactory life among women at Pizzazz, the Hoboken hair salon where she works. Her life is turned upside down when Emory Bellew is hired. After a rocky beginning the two forge a friendship, but neither is prepared for what will happen when they venture to a Costa Rican eco-resort to rescue Hayden's injured father.
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His Mother’s Son
Jana Thomas is an ER doctor with a gentle husband, Cooper, and a six-year-old son, Evan. Her life is seemingly perfect. But when Evan begins first grade and exhibits startlingly violent behavior, Jana is forced to expose and explore the long-held secrets from her past.
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