Isaac Fitzgerald Books In Order

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Picture Books

Isaac Fitzgerald is a man that has worked on a boat as a firefighter and at some point was granted a sword by a king.

He likes to describe himself as an author commentator and cultural critic. Fitzgerald is also a former co-owner of the popular magazine “The Rumpus,” where he was the editor of the works of household names that include Cheryl Strayed and Roxane Gay.

He is frequently featured on “The Today Show” and has also edited “Buzzfeed News” and “BuzzFeed Books.” He is the author of “How to be a Pirate,” a national bestseller in children’s fiction.

Isaac Fitzgerald is also the author of several bestselling works about tattoos that have been called honest, poignant, heartbreaking, and charming.

However, Fitzgerald’s best-known work has to be “Dirtbag, Massachusetts: A Confessional,” which is something of a memoir about his life.

The author currently makes his home in Brooklyn New York, from where he pens his bestselling young adult, children’s fiction, and non-fiction works.

When he was a kid Isaac Fitzgerald relived in a homeless shelter for low-income families in Boston.

This was before he and his mother moved to rural Massachusetts, where they lived in a small drafty grey house. His father was pretty much absent and his mother who was lonely and broke tried to commit suicide at least once.

By the time he was 12, he began using drugs and at 15 he banded up with friends to form a fight club. It was this period in his life that would then be told in “Dirtbag, Massachusetts” his bestselling essay collection.

After graduating from college, he worked a series of odd jobs where he was a model for kink.com, a biker bar bartender, a body man for a congressman, and the worst sushi chef in the world.
He did all manner of stuff as he wanted to be openhearted rather than mad and bitter like the adults he had grown up around. Fitzgerald got into the world of books in 2006 soon after he moved to San Francisco.

It was there that he started volunteering at the non-profit “826 Valencia,” a storytelling workshop co-founded by Dave Eggers. He would eventually get to become the managing editor of the online literary magazine “The Rumpus.”

As for how he came to love writing, Isaac Fitzgerald has said that he always loved reading ever since he was a child.

He got into storytelling when he read the stories of Breece D’J Pancake. The author was penning his works from Virginia at a time when he was living in rural Massachusetts.

This connected with him as he could identify with the experiences in the story. It made him feel that his experiences might have some value. After he published Pen & Ink in 2014 and it became moderately successful, he decided to kick on from there.

He now writes his fiction and nonfiction works from his apartment. Still, he spends much of the time lying on the bed or on the couch as he prefers to develop his ideas when he is moving around New York City.

For this reason, he can often be found jotting down through and notes throughout the day on the several notebooks he always has on his person for that purpose.

Isaac Fitzgerald’s novel “Dirtbag Massachusetts: A Confessional,” tells the story of the author who has taken many roles in his life. He has been a biker, smuggler, prince of New England, bartender, and altar boy.

Before he became all that he had been responsible for blowing up his parents’ lives according to his mother.

In this memoir, Fitzgerald tells his story with humor and warmth as he recounts his never-ending search for forgiveness. He also talks of his quest for determining his definition of self and family and his vision of masculinity.

It is a memoir that is written in essay form that opens with a childhood that speeds from safety to violence. He recounts how he had a terrible journey through trauma, which finally resulted in acceptance.
Isaac tells his story in detail from how he grew up in Boston where he lived in a homeless shelter then to San Francisco where he was a bartender. From when he was a smuggler of medical supplies into South East Asia to his long-standing struggle to accept his body.

It is a beautiful, gritty, loud-hearted, and clear eyes story that makes for an interesting read.

Pen & Ink by Isaac Fitzgerald asserts that every tattoo tells a story that gets people asking why or where did you get that tattoo.

This is often the case whether you were tattooed due to a misguided decision as a teenager on a bender or when the ink is meant to convey some profound meaning.

Many intimate and permanent tattoos are hidden by shirttails and pants legs, tucked inside mouths, or emblazoned on knuckles. They can be mementos, battle scars, totems, or beauty marks depending on who you are.

In this work, the author provides access to the stories behind tattoos and to the tattoos of writers Roxane Gay and Cheryl Strayed. To the tattoos of Five Finger Death Punch, Otep, and Korn among other rockers and even a porn star.

The work also shines a spotlight on ordinary people from administrators to union organizers from thrift store salespeople to professors, from librarians to cafe owners, and the extraordinary lives they lead.
Compiled and edited by Isaac Fitzgerald who himself has more than a dozen tattoos each story feels like you are being let into the secrets of strangers that you sat across from on the train or met on the street.

The full-color illustrations in white and black drawings by Wendy MacNaughton only make this work even more enjoyable.

Isaac Fitzgerald’s novel “Knives & Ink” asserts that almost all chefs from the executive chefs at 5-star Michelin restaurants to gritty grill cooks at rundown restaurants take their tattoos very seriously.
The author asserts that all cooks love to sport some ink, which they take as seriously as they do their knives.

Coming with the tattoos of more than five dozen chefs from all manner of kitchens and walks of life it is a great collection of tattoo stories.

These include Jamie Bissonnette the James Beard award-winning chef, Mandy Lamb the Alaska fishing boat cook, and John Gorham from Toro Bravo among many others. Every tattoo comes with a personal and very rich personal story.

Michelin-rated Dominique Creen has ink that acts as a reminder that she can achieve anything she sets her heart to while Mission Chinese Food’s Danny Bowien has tattoos on his arms to remind him of his mother.

Like their famous and popular dishes, these chefs also have tattoos that are nothing but beautiful works of art.

The book delves into the wonderful and wide world of chef tattoos as it tells of interesting backstories. All this is complemented with personal recipes that the chefs have not shared anywhere else.