# Erin Van Rheenen

> Author of You Could Be Happy Here


## Pages

- [Media Kit](https://erinvanrheenen.com/media-kit/)
- [Tester](https://erinvanrheenen.com/tester/): TESTER PAGE Coming soon. NEWS Coming soon.
- [Contact](https://erinvanrheenen.com/contact/): CONTACT Facebook-f Instagram Linkedin-in Goodreads-g BOOK CLUBS I would be delighted to join your book club, either in person or virtually! If you’d like me to participate, simply send over the details using the form on this page—when you meet, your time zone, and the number of members in your group. I can’t wait to meet you. What To Read Where Subscribe to my Substack newsletter for place-based reading recommendations!
- [News & Events](https://erinvanrheenen.com/news-events/): EVENTS Thursday, Sept. 18 at 6:30 pmBooks Inc in Laurel Village, San Francisco, CaliforniaHelp celebrate the launch of Erin Van Rheenen’s debut novel, You Could Be Happy Here. There will also be drawings for free copies of Erin’s other books: her bestselling guide, Living Abroad in Costa Rica and her bilingual children’s book, The Manatee’s Big Day. Thursday, Sept. 25 at 6 pmSausalito Books by the Bay in Sausalito, CaliforniaErin Van Rheenen will appear in conversation with book reviewer Barbara Lane, discussing Erin’s new novel You Could Be Happy Here. There will also be drawings for free copies of Erin’s other ... <a title="Media Kit" class="read-more" href="https://erinvanrheenen.com/media-kit/" aria-label="Read more about Media Kit">Read more</a>
- [Teaching & Speaking](https://erinvanrheenen.com/teaching-speaking/): TEACHING A successful workshop or class not only improves student skills and craft; it also creates its own electricity that can last in the form of enduring community. I’ve taught English and creative writing to students at all levels, in a variety of settings, including CUNY in New York City, University High School in San Francisco, public libraries, tutoring programs for at-risk youth, the Writing Salon, and the San Francisco women’s jail. SPEAKING As a speaker, I receive consistent feedback that I’m engaging, informative, and run a killer Q&A. I’ve done many readings of my fiction and nonfiction, have been ... <a title="Media Kit" class="read-more" href="https://erinvanrheenen.com/media-kit/" aria-label="Read more about Media Kit">Read more</a>
- [Other Writing](https://erinvanrheenen.com/other-writing/): OTHER WRITING Here are a few of my favorite projects and assignments: My debut novel, You Could Be Happy Here, which took only two decades to write. Researching and writing Living Abroad in Costa Rica. A tribute to a personal hero, Mary Colter, whose architecture and design celebrated Native American and Spanish colonial culture and was key in the development of what became known as Southwest Style. (BBC Travel) The story of Meow Wolf, a dumpster-diving arts collective that morphed into a multi-million-dollar entertainment company (Southwest Magazine, sadly no longer operational) A photo essay (in collaboration with my husband, a ... <a title="Media Kit" class="read-more" href="https://erinvanrheenen.com/media-kit/" aria-label="Read more about Media Kit">Read more</a>
- [About](https://erinvanrheenen.com/about/): ABOUT I’m Erin Van Rheenen. I write, teach, and travel. My life has been an effort to see the beauty in being upended. Life upends us all, again and again. I seek to claim my upendedness as a good thing. And to write about it. That means exploring everything from moving abroad to surviving hospital stays to personal and professional transformations—not just my own, but others’, too. I’ve never met a subculture, underappreciated artist, or quirky backstory that didn’t move me to find out more. I also write fiction and nonfiction that explores family dynamics, cultural difference, and the power ... <a title="Media Kit" class="read-more" href="https://erinvanrheenen.com/media-kit/" aria-label="Read more about Media Kit">Read more</a>
- [The Manatee's Big Day](https://erinvanrheenen.com/the-manatees-big-day/): Join my Mailing List and receive a free PDF of The Manatee’s Big Day: THE MANATEE’S BIG DAY (Un gran día para la Señorita Manatí) A Costa Rica Animal Adventure (Aventuras animales en Costa Rica) In Costa Rica’s Tortuguero canals, a gentle young manatee is threatened by a surprise visitor: an enormous bull shark. Can the manatee inspire the other animals—including a boa, a monkey, and a shimmer of hummingbirds—to fight the shark together? The Manatee’s Big Day is a bilingual (English/Spanish) narrative for ages 4-8, with full-color illustrations and a 20-page science section with fun facts about Costa Rica biodiversity, the ... <a title="Media Kit" class="read-more" href="https://erinvanrheenen.com/media-kit/" aria-label="Read more about Media Kit">Read more</a>
- [Living Abroad in Costa Rica](https://erinvanrheenen.com/living-abroad-in-costa-rica/): Buy now: Join my Mailing List and receive a free PDF of Living Abroad in Costa Rica: Living Abroad in Costa Rica Erin Van Rheenen has made the move to Costa Rica herself, and in Living Abroad Costa Rica, she uses her know-how to provide insight and firsthand advice on navigating the language and culture of this beautiful country. Erin outlines all the information you need including how to obtain visas, arrange finances, set up your daily life, gain employment, and choose schools in a smart, organized, and straightforward manner, making planning the move abroad manageable. Living Abroad Costa Rica ... <a title="Media Kit" class="read-more" href="https://erinvanrheenen.com/media-kit/" aria-label="Read more about Media Kit">Read more</a>
- [You Could Be Happy Here](https://erinvanrheenen.com/you-could-be-happy-here/): Coming Sept 16, 2025. Available for pre-order now! Download Reader’s Guide Download Tip Sheet Read an Excerpt Behind the Book Ask about a Book Club visit You Could Be Happy Here How far would you go to find your true home? Lucy—single, childless, in her thirties—teaches grade school science and is obsessed with insects, an unlikely source in her quest for insight into human behavior. Any progress she’s made on that front is lost when her mother dies prematurely, her sister claims the Northern California family home, and Lucy learns that her biological father may be a Costa Rican they ... <a title="Media Kit" class="read-more" href="https://erinvanrheenen.com/media-kit/" aria-label="Read more about Media Kit">Read more</a>
- [Home](https://erinvanrheenen.com/): Coming Sept 16, 2025 You Could Be Happy Here Shortly after the untimely death of her mother, Lucy makes a series of discoveries that shatter her idea of who she is and where she belongs. Do her own grief and outrage give her the right to claim her Costa Rican inheritance? Could she be happy there? A gripping novel about how far we’ll go to find our true home. Pre-order now: “Van Rheenen’s debut novel … never goes where you think it’s going, but always takes you someplace wonderful.” —Karen Joy Fowler, author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves ... <a title="Media Kit" class="read-more" href="https://erinvanrheenen.com/media-kit/" aria-label="Read more about Media Kit">Read more</a>


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