Betsy Cornwell

Betsy Cornwell reshapes fairy tales around agency, creative work, and unconventional families. A fantasy writer and memoirist, she founded an arts retreat in Ireland and holds degrees from Smith College and the University of Notre Dame. Clarion published The Circus Rose in 2020. Inspired by Snow-White and Rose-Red, the fantasy follows twin performers Rosie and Ivory as their traveling circus returns to Port's End. When religious extremists threaten the troupe, the sisters and their companions must protect the home they built together. Cornwell alternates prose and verse between the twins' perspectives, giving their different temperaments distinct rhythms while the circus setting supports a story about performance, belonging, and resistance. The Circus Rose sits alongside her other reimaginings, including Mechanica, Venturess, and The Forest Queen. Cornwell's later memoir Ring of Salt turns toward her life on Ireland's west coast, but it shares the novel's interest in making a durable home through chosen community and artistic practice.