Quick Bio

Rachel Mans McKenny is a writer and humorist from the Midwest, recently published in McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Elle Magazine, Electric Lit, The Rumpus, and The New York Times. She also co-hosts the literary matchmaking podcast Blind Date with a Book. The Butterfly Effect is her first novel.

For more info on her publications, click here

Selected Media Coverage and Recorded Past Events

• Discussion Videos and Interviews on BookClub for The Butterfly Effect
• Rachel Mans McKenny’s Launch Party at The Ripped Bodice with Jen DeLuca and Jesse Sutanto on Books, Love, and their paths to Publication @ Ripped Bodice (virtual)
• Rachel Mans McKenny on the Talk of Iowa program on Iowa Public Radio
• Rachel Mans McKenny in Conversation with J. Ryan Stradal for The Bookworm Omaha
• Interview on Iowa Public Radio’s Talk of Iowa

• Interview with Debutante Ball
• Coverage in Off The Beaten Shelf
• Coverage in The Ames Tribune
• Coverage in The Daily Iowan
• Interview on Reading Envy
• Interview on I’m a Writer But

Praise for The Butterfly Effect

“A warm, winning debut from a talented new Midwestern voice.” –J. Ryan Stradal, New York Times bestselling author of Kitchens of the Great Midwest

“Delightfully off-kilter…[Lovably-flawed] Greta’s comically critical point of view interrogates Midwestern norms and gendered stereotypes in a story that explores the legacy of familial dysfunction. Come for the butterflies, and stay for Mans McKenny’s acerbic authorial eye which examines the complexities of the Midwest and its quiet dramas.”
—Rachel Yoder, award-winning author of Nightbitch

“A lovably grumpy and unfiltered heroine. As a reader, you’ll undergo your own metamorphosis and realize how much you needed this story.”
—Faith Salie, Emmy-winning contributor to CBS News Sunday Morning and author of Approval Junkie

“Satisfying, engrossing, interesting.” – KJ Dell’Antonia, author of The Chicken Sisters

“A page-turner.” -Charity Nebbe, Iowa Public Radio