Publications & Artist Books
LITERARY JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS & PRESS (2011 - present)
A list of essays and short stories that Molly has published in anthologies, literary journals, and elsewhere.
WRITING AS PUBLIC ART (2015 - present)
Original essays or micro-fiction installed in vinyl by Rideout across the US using a form she calls “Public Writing.”
THE NORTH ADAMS NOTE-BOOKS OF NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE (2024)
The famous author’s journals, with extensive annotations about the local places and people he met while visiting the N. Berkshires.
BLANK JOURNALS (2019 - present)
Molly sews a variety of handmade blank journals, currently available through the Bear & Bee Bookstore and on Etsy.
A collaboration with artist Jill Downen. Book design and fabrication by Molly Rideout.
THE FAREWELL (2021)
An essay about the complicated relationship our culture has with aging and gender. Single-signature sewn booklet.
An artist book exploring chronic migraines, the healthcare industry, and the side effects of medication.
FLIGHT OFFICER CARL GEORGE LARSEN (2020)
A creative nonfiction essay told in 4 booklets in one letterpress printed folder.
A short story about life at the County Poor Farm, single-signature sewn booklet, each with an accompanying found photograph.
A collection that intermingles fiction and truth and explores the pitfalls and allure of searching for home in New Orleans
SUN IN GEMINI / SUN IN CAPRICORN (2017)
A collaboration between printmaker Gloria Shows and Molly Rideout.
A collection of 33 original flash fictions inspired by Midwestern gravestones.
INTERESTING DEATHS IN GRINNELL (2017)
A democratic multiple book of local history with research by Byron Hueftle-Worley.
GRIN CITY COMMUNITY RESOURCE GUIDE (2016)
A phonebook for all the things not in the phonebook, in collaboration w/ Freesia McKee and Rachel Buse.
The North Adams Note-Books of Nathaniel Hawthorne (2024)
Edited by Molly Rideout
In 1838 Nathaniel Hawthorne arrived in the town of North Adams, MA, where I now live. He was 34 and just starting to be recognized as an author. He told his future wife that he wouldn’t write letters home and he’d travel under an assumed name. No one really knows why he came out to the Berkshires, why he stayed for six weeks, or why it was all such a secret. But his future sister-in-law suggested he keep a journal, so he could share parts of his adventures with everyone when he returned.
This standalone edition of his journals from his time in North Adams was published by Bear & Bee Books and includes and introduction and extensive footnotes of contextualizing local history research by Molly Rideout.
Available for purchase exclusively through Bear & Bee Books (North Adams, MA).
Desvenlafaxine Dream (2021)
Several years ago I began developing daily migraines, and the cause was a mystery. But I got lucky. After only one false start we landed on a daily medication combination that usually keeps them at bay. One of these meds, desvenlafaxine, commonly used as an antidepressant, has the unlisted side effect of giving me incredibly vivid dreams. This artist book alternates between medication dream journal and the waking journey through the health care industry. Inspired by artist Anna Cowley Ford and her amazing migraine art. Digitally printed on Mohawk from their Curious and Via collections, with a centerfold of the actual paperwork that comes with each month’s supply of desvenlafaxine. Stickers from the accompanying CVS pharmacy prescription sheet. Edition of 6 (NFS).
FLIGHT OFFICER CARL GEORGE LARSEN (2020)
Sometimes when trying to find a sense of home in a new place, we get thrown right back to where we were running from. In this creative nonfiction essay, Molly weaves together the stories of three airmen who fought and died within six weeks of each other in WWII, each with the same name, and each with a connection to her world, from Columbus, OH, to Grinnell, IA. This essay explores both places and how cemeteries have shaped the ways in which she comes to love a town.
Rideout hand-produced this limited run, sewn, four-pamphlet assembled book with letterpress printed folder and pockets in the fall of 2020. Printed in a run of 60 (all sold), each numbered and signed by the author. “Flight Officer Carl George Larsen” was originally published in Fourth Genre magazine in Winter/Spring 2020.
IN MEMORIAM (2019)
When a wealthy man dies, the town is shocked to watch his widow sent away to the county’s poor farm. What shocks them more is her seeming indifference to his death.
Rideout hand-produced this limited run, sewn, single-pamphlet book of her fiction story “In Memoriam” in summer 2019.
She drew inspiration for the setting from her great-great-grandparents and the stories her grandmother told of visiting them when they ran Indiana’s Jennings County Poor Farm in at the start of the Great Depression. For the fly leaf, she used air mail paper that she inherited from her other grandparents. The resulting book-form is a tribute to family contrasted against a story of familial strife. Printed in a run of 40 (all sold), each book includes a unique, found photograph thematically connected to the story. “In Memoriam” was first published in the Mississippi Review in Spring 2019.
24 pages, 5” x 8”
Midwestern Elegy (2017)
One-of-a-kind artist book of a collection of gravestone epitaphs from cemeteries across the Midwest, accompanied by micro-fictions. A horizon line runs through the entirety of this drum-leaf-bound book, signifying the truth above ground (the text of the gravestone) and the fiction below ground that might have been the person buried there. NFS
Sun in Gemini / Sun in Capricorn (2017)
A series of flash fiction and linocut prints in dialogue with one another. Prints are printed on velum and sewn over the text in a concertina. In collaboration with artist Gloria Shows (artwork and laser cutting) with writing and binding by Molly Rideout. Printed in a run of 4. NFS.
Interesting Deaths in Grinnell (2017)
Zine-style book assembling true stories of strange demises in the rural town of Grinnell, Iowa. Research by Byron Hueftle-Worley. Book by Molly Rideout. Democratic multiple, 3 editions.
