Nancy Rommelmann

Nancy Rommelmann
Rommelmann reporting on the federal prosecution of Eric Adams in 2024
Education
Occupations
  • Journalist
  • Author
Years active1994–present
Websitenancyrommelmann.com

Nancy Rommelmann is an American journalist, book reviewer, and author.

Personal life

Rommelmann and her husband, Din Johnson, have lived in Portland, Oregon since 2004.[1]

In September 2005, Johnson opened a coffee shop, Ristretto Roasters, in Portland's Beaumont-Wilshire neighborhood.[2] The shop grew into a small chain.[3]

Career

Rommelmann has worked as a journalist and author since the mid-1990s and has written fiction, nonfiction, and cultural commentary.

Books

To the Bridge, a True Story of Motherhood and Murder (2018), tells the nonfiction story of a mother in Portland, Oregon who dropped her small children off a high bridge to their death in an icy river.[4][5]

The Bad Mother (2011), a novel, followed "a cluster of street kids in L.A. as they make catastrophically bad choices."[4][6] A review in Reason described both Bad Mother and To the Bridge as storytelling that is "equal parts horrifying and lyrical."[7]

The Queens of Montague Street (2012) is a memoir about growing up in Brooklyn Heights in the 1970s.

Transportation (2013) is a collection of Rommelmann's short stories.[8]

Destination Gacy (2014) is an account of her cross-country journey to interview serial killer John Wayne Gacy shortly before his scheduled execution.

Rommelmann's Los Angeles Bar & Nightlife Guide (2001) is a guide to nightlife in Los Angeles.[9]

She also wrote Everything You Pretend to Know About Food And Are Afraid Someone Will Ask (1998)[10]

#MeNeither

Beginning in 2018, Rommelmann and columnist Leah McSweeney started the YouTube video series #MeNeither. The series discussed allegations against several prominent men during the #MeToo movement and questioned aspects of some accusations and media coverage.[11]

References

  1. ^ Rommelman, Nancy (12 July 2019). "Portlandization: It Can Happen to a Place Near You". Tablet. Retrieved 12 July 2019.
  2. ^ Lorinczi, Seth (25 January 2006). "DAILY GRIND; Fanatical home roasters take Portland's coffee buzz to a higher level". Wilammette Week.
  3. ^ Herron, Elise (19 February 2019). "In Op-Ed For Quillette, Nancy Rommelmann Says #MeNeither Videos Could Cause Ristretto Roasters to Go Out of Business". Willamette Week. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  4. ^ a b Mangu-Ward, Katherine (October 2018). "To the Bridge". Reason.
  5. ^ Baker, Jeff (1 July 2018). "Revisiting a mother's devastating crime". The Oregonian.
  6. ^ Mirk, Sarah (21 April 2011). "The Bad Mother (book review)". Portland Mercury.
  7. ^ Mangu-Ward, Katherine (2018-10-01). "To the Bridge". Reason.com. Retrieved 2026-02-23.
  8. ^ Baker, Jeff (27 January 2013). "Podcasts give book culture a shot in the arm". The Oregonian.
  9. ^ Genn, Roman (4 July 2001). "Gallery; Barhopping in Hollywood with Nancy Rommelmann, author of 'Rommelmann's Los Angeles Bar & Nightlife Guide'". Los Angeles Times.
  10. ^ McPherson, Heather (30 April 1998). "2 Great Books That Don't Need to Use Name-calling (book review)". McPhersonReview.
  11. ^ Herron, Elise (January 10, 2019). "Portland Author and Wife of Ristretto Roasters Owner Sparks Controversy With YouTube Videos Discrediting Prominent Sexual Assault Survivors". Willamette Week.