News from Luanne

Sandcastles is out in trade paperback! I love the new cover, which shows me running down the beach late for a swim with mermaids.  This novel came from deep inside.  It's about three sisters with artist parents, a devastating family secret, a dreamlike convent school on the edge of the sea, and love: within the family, among the sisters, first-kiss beach boy love, and, my favorite, the love of a nun for her longterm friend and groundskeeper.  The Thorn Birds on the Connecticut Shoreline!

Other news:

I’d like to introduce you to Madeleine Arrigan, librarian and archivist. Madeleine spends most of her time in our library high in the turret, reshelving books, repairing bindings of the much-loved and much-read ones, occasionally losing herself in a book she can’t put down. She does story hour for kids of all ages—without notice, whenever the mood strikes her.

She loves connecting with readers, so you’ll be encountering Madeleine here quite often. Also, she has started a Luanne Rice fan page on Facebook. After you friend me, please “like” the fan page and you will be eligible to win contests designed by Madeleine for book-lovers like you.

And of course, knowing Madeleine, she may present impromptu story hours. That would be so like her.

Friends and Favorites

I feel so lucky to be surrounded with creative, amazing friends and colleagues.  I have been with my literary agent, Andrea Cirillo, since the very beginning.  We were young when first we began; my mother actually accompanied me to the agency for my first meeting.  Long time ago, many books and much fun since then.  Ron Bernstein has been my film agent forever.  Thanks to him I've had movies and a mini-series made of my work, and gotten to spend much time on film sets. This website was created by Adrian Kinloch.  I thank him for his knowledge, vision, and the beautiful photographs he took at two photo shoots--one in Chelsea, the other at Rockaway Beach.  Jessie Cantrell is a writer, actress, and comedian who moonlights as my assistant.  Mike O'Gorman is a writer, actor, and comedian, and does all our videos.  Ted O'Gorman is a writer, actor, and comedian who fills in for Jessie when she's acting, and who also takes care of my three cats when I'm on the road.  Sarah Walker, writer, actress, comedian, and author of Really, You've Done Enough, is integral to many projects.

The photo above shows me with Audrey Loggia, my friend and California sister.  I'm godmother to her dog Maggie and she to my cat Maggie.  Even though she's allergic to cats.  A great friend indeed.


Jessie Cantrell Jessie is Luanne's assistant, friend, and fellow coffee lover.  She considers herself very fortunate to have such a wise, talented, supportive, generous, gorgeous and, most importantly, fun boss.  Jessie is an actress/comedian, so when she is not at The Half King with Luanne, she is auditioning for Coke commercials, making music, and/or working on sketch comedy shows for her group The Dan Ryan.  You can check out her stuff at jessiecantrell.com.


Mike O' Gorman Mike is the director and editor of video content for LuanneRice.com. O'Gorman is also an actor and writer, and has appeared in upcoming episodes of Comedy Central's Ugly Americans, Cartoon Network's Delocated,and VH1's The Short List. When he's not working on Luanne's videos, you can find him performing with his sketch comedy group, The Dan Ryan. Mike O'Gorman lives in New York City.   Follow Mike on facebook >


Sarah Walker Sarah is a writer and comedian living in NYC. Her column "Sarah Walker Shows You How" appears on McSweeney's Internet Tendency. She also blogs for Best Week Ever (bestweekever.tv). She enjoys cake and naps. For more about Sarah, go to her website: sarahwwalker.weebly.com


Ted O'Gorman Ted is an actor and comedian in New York. He is the former head writer for Black20.com's The Middle Show with David Price. In addition to his work in videos for LuanneRice.com he performs regularly as a member of the sketch comedy group The Dan Ryan.