Tom Ahern's literary career peaked abruptly in 1984 when the New York Times said a few nice things about his first full book of short stories. A half-dozen years later, another Ahern story collection came out - this time, the reinvented writings of an unforgiveable early-1800s French horror author, Petrus Borel; slit throats, cannibalism, voodoo, that sort of thing. Ahern was trying to learn to plot. Then nothing ... until now. Ahern remained a "word artist." He wrote prolifically. But he stopped trying to publish. Tom Ahern graduated from Brown University with a MA in Creative Writing. That program's first head, Keith Waldrop, was a sublime teacher and model and mentor; in 2009, Keith won the National Book Award in Poetry, capping a rich and mesmerizing career. Rosmarie Waldrop, Keith's just-as-celebrated wife/poet/translator, was also an irreplaceable mentor/model/teacher for Tom Ahern. "Honest tribute. As any kind of writer, I don't exist without them. I would have disappeared into the daily gravel when I was 22 without their years of help and belief and support." That was Act One. In Act Two, Ahern learned the craft of pleasing general (rather than literary) audiences. For more than three decades now, he's paid his bills (including the mortgage on that second home in France) as a successful commercial copywriter. And then the nonprofit sector opened its arms. Tom Ahern began writing fundraising appeals. They worked. He began teaching. People responded to his plain-spoken, common-sense, zero-jargon approach. He began writing "how-to-improve" books that became industry standards: his 7th fundraising book will appear in 2019. In 2016, the New York Times mentioned Ahern again. "Tom Ahern ... is one of the country's most sought-after creators of fund-raising messages."
