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Beowulf Sheehan

@beowulfsheehan

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2052

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Portrait photographer in arts and humanities. Son of an immigrant and translator. Grandson of a photographer, pianist, and poet. New Yorker.

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That was a blast. Thanks to all who came out to our SOLD OUT show @joespub, and to the amazing musicians who take the tunes to new heights. Honored and thrilled to play with you.

NYC, CA, and MA coming up, links in bio…

10/29 Loreto Theater, NYC
The great poet Naomi Shihab Nye will open the night, and I’ll be joined by musicians Shahzad Ismaily, Jason Burger, Rich Stein, Mona Kayhan, and Grey McMurray.

10/23 Stanford University, Dinkelspiel Auditorium
with musicians Isabel Castellvi, Mathias Kunzli, and Shahzad Ismaily

11/5 Race Brook Lodge, MA
With Isabel Castellvi and more TBA
The astonishing James Bird will open the night

Thank you @beowulfsheehan for capturing these moments

@ectoderm88 @jburgerdrums @marcribotmusic @muchgrey @rsdrum @monakayhan @cellobell @mathiaskunzli

Thanks @nyrbooks @blueflowerarts by @beowulfsheehan

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a day ago

I’m looking forward to being part of the Brattleboro Literary Festival this Saturday, October 17, at 4 pm, in conversation with photographer Beowulf Sheehan and moderator Luke Strosnider at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center.

The festival is free and open to everyone. I hope you can join us!

#VauneTrachtman #NowIsAlways #BrattleboroLiteraryFestival2026 #photography #oneforthebooks @brattleborolitfest @lukestrosnider @beowulfsheehan @brattmuseum by @beowulfsheehan

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3 days ago

"Svetlana White, professor of Russian literature, Dava’s closest friend, was also her lover. The novel was nothing less than a revelation of that fact, a deftly-worded love letter hundreds of pages long. Svetlana, mother of Naomi, a girl who had held a fascination for both of his sons—Svetlana, familiar figure at backyard barbecues, university functions, school fundraisers, and lake outings for the past nine years—had driven his wife to a state of erotic graphomania, and, as the pages seemed to suggest, had met Dava’s desire with her own."
In Julie Orringer's LUNA, PHOENIX, QUEEN, out today from Knopf, graphomania seizes upon wife and husband who might not be husband and wife, and in its wake lies perhaps bibliomania. And truth.
#lunaphoenixqueen
https://bit.ly/4hQU8WM

Congratulations and thank you
@jorringer
@aaknopf
@penguinrandomhouse

Brooklyn launch with @emmastraub 7PM 10/14 @booksaremagicbk

Julie Orringer photographed with thanks to
@fujifilmx_us
@profoto
@las_sombritas
@mscherryle

#family
#affair
#dog
#love
#truth
#fiction
#bookstagram
#bookstagrammer
#writersofinstagram by @beowulfsheehan

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3 days ago

Yes! Congratulations on your Nobel Prize, Anne Carson! "The wall of my heart is your love," you once wrote (in your poem "BLENDED TEXT"). The greater love for your art is now ours. Bravo!
#annecarson
@aragiauthors
@nobelprize
#nobel
#literature
#poetry
#love by @beowulfsheehan

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8 days ago

Thrilled to be back on The Road for The Father of the Man, for Cormac McCarthy, and for heroes of story:

7PM tonight 10/7 at Afterword Bookshop in NYC

2:30PM tomorrow 10/8 at The Cormac McCarthy Society Conference, Crowne Plaza Downtown, Knoxville

6PM tomorrow 10/8 at Union Avenue Books, Knoxville

How wonderful to find home in books
here in New York and to soon celebrate where Cormac long made his: Knoxville.

See you 7PM tonight @afterwordbookshop
See you 6PM tomorrow @unionavebooks

#knoxville
#thefatheroftheman
#cormacmccarthy
#theroad
#nocountryforoldmen
@utkwritingctr

Used to spend my nights in in my bedroom
Literature was the only love I'd known
But you rescued me from reachin' for the bottom
And brought me back from being too far gone
You're the smooth in Tennessee writing by @beowulfsheehan

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9 days ago

"When I turn the page, I remain at the edge
of freedom. A seedling blooms at the brim,
roots hanging on, destined to grow. To belong,
I struggle to see myself laboring with purpose.
A devotion. There is no greater art than to live."
—[Waterfall #1]
In Tina Chang's LION: POEMS, out today from W.W. Norton, culture, presence, love, and life over generations are works of art. And in Chang's poetry we shown how priceless those works are, for each of us to curate and nurture.
#lion
https://bit.ly/3V4rp94

Congratulations and thank you
@tinachang_poet
@w.w.norton

Book launch with @tishanidoshi @nathaliephandal @rika99 7PM Thursday 10/8 @bklynlibrary Central Library

Tina Chang photographed with thanks to
@canonusa
@profoto
@las_sombritas
@nylanasser

#ChristinaYunaLee
@AstriaSuparak
#HongAnTruong
@elikleingallery
#culture
#identity
#history
#future
#family
#poetry
#art
#love
#life
#poetry
#bookstagram
#bookstagrammer
#writersofinstagram by @beowulfsheehan

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10 days ago

Join portrait photographer Beowulf Sheehan as he discusses his illustrious career in portrait photography and his new book about Cormac McCarthy!

⌞ ⌝ ⌞ ⌝ ⌞ ⌝ ⌞ ⌝ ⌞ ⌝ ⌞ ⌝ ⛶ ⌞ ⌝ ⌞ ⌝ ⌞ ⌝ ⌞ ⌝ ⌞ ⌝ ⌞ ⌝

⛶ October 7
⛶ 7pm
⛶ Afterword Bookshop, 216 E 6th St, NY, NY

⌞ ⌝ ⌞ ⌝ ⌞ ⌝ ⌞ ⌝ ⌞ ⌝ ⌞ ⌝ 📸 ⌞ ⌝ ⌞ ⌝ ⌞ ⌝ ⌞ ⌝ ⌞ ⌝

Free entry, but RSVP is preferred, link in bio. taken in East Village, Manhattan by @beowulfsheehan

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15 days ago

Mississippi is for (book) lovers. Thank you @msbookfestival @ellenrdaniels @tom_junod @wrightthompsonbooks for a wonderful day.
#thefatheroftheman
#cormacmccarthy by @beowulfsheehan

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20 days ago

"And so, Dad, I hadn’t seen you," Tom Junod wrote in IN THE DAYS OF MY YOUTH I WAS TOLD WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A MAN, words he wrote and lived about his father that I lived about mine, just differently. Reading (Cormac McCarthy, for me) and writing helped us see. Talking helps, too - and tomorrow Tom and I will reach the stage with Wright Thompson and do that thing the best we can at the Mississippi Book Festival. 10:45 AM 9/26, Jackson, State Capitol 113. See you there.

@msbookfestival
@tom_junod
@wrightthompsonbooks

#thefatheroftheman
@autofocusbooks
#cormacmccarthy
#inthedaysofmyyouthiwastoldwhatitmeanstobeaman
#thebarn

Mississippi Book Festival art by @adriennedomnick by @beowulfsheehan

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21 days ago

We are so delighted to welcome the amazing photographer, Beowulf Sheehan @beowulfsheehan, to the 2026 Festival! His book, The Father of the Man: The Last Author Portrait Sitting With Cormac McCarthy, was published by AutoFocus Books in September.

Tracy Daughtery writes, “Beowulf Sheehan is more than a photographer. He is a conduit through which his subjects become known to us. These extraordinary pictures of Cormac McCarthy reveal not only Sheehan’s keen eye, but also his deep understanding of the man beneath his gaze, an understanding made possible by McCarthy’s obvious openness to Sheehan, and Sheehan’s empathy, experience, and humanity."

Sheehan will be presenting with Vaune Trachtman at @brattmuseum in @downtownbrattleboro on Saturday, October 17, at 4 pm. Join us and bring a friend! All events are free and open to the public. Our full schedule is available at the link in our bio.

#BeowulfSheehan #TheFatherOfTheMan #CormacMcCarthy #photoessay #brattleboroliteraryfestival2026 taken in Brattleboro Museum & Art Center by @beowulfsheehan

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22 days ago

Later gram :) A truly special celebration launch for extraordinary literary photographer and my friend @beowulfsheehan's new book, The Father of a Man: The Last Portrait Sitting of Cormac McCarthy.

I’m honored to have read these pages before the book was published. It’s a stunning book of writing, reflection, and reclamation through photography and the intimate process.

The evening featured the most moving interlocutor, @adacalhoun. So grateful to have been there and as the first literary event at @therabbitbooksandbar.

Beowulf’s profound insights into writers never cease to amaze and move me. His photographs and words create such a deeply intimate meditation on literature, art, and our lives.

Thank you, for your words and images, and for the profound depth, love, and commitment to writers through your lens.

Included a special photo taken by Beowulf of me and Jesse McCarthy at the NBCC Awards.

As Salman Rushdie writes, "Beowulf Sheehan’s fascinating double portrait of the great Cormac McCarthy in photographs and prose is also an autobiography. Difficult fathers and painful childhoods unite both men, and Sheehan, in revealing himself, helps us get under the guard of the famously reticent writer."

Congratulations again. Everyone, please support this beautiful book! ♥️ by @beowulfsheehan

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a month ago

As one of the world's premier literary portrait photographers, and as our official festival photographer since 2017, @beowulfsheehan has captured the faces behind contemporary literature's defining works.

In this special session, Sheehan presents his new book, The Father of the Man: The Last Author Portrait Sitting with Cormac McCarthy (Autofocus, 2026).

A book signing will immediately follow the presentation.

This event is free and open to the public. For the full festival schedule, head over to windhamcampbell.org 🎉 by @beowulfsheehan

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a month ago