Samantha Rose
Giving Up the Ghost 
April 9, 2026
4 PM PDT | 5 PM MDT | 6 PM CDT | 7 PM EDT
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New York Times bestselling ghostwriter, Samantha Rose, steps forward to unravel the mystery surrounding her mother’s suicide. What begins as a solitary journey of grief shifts form when her mother returns from the shadows beyond to reconcile her irreversible choice. Raw, deeply revealing, and darkly funny, Giving Up the Ghost explores the layered complexity of mental health, the love between mothers and daughters, and how, in the aftermath of inconceivable loss, we can release our inner ghosts and write a new story for ourselves.

Beyond the interplay of a ghostwriter who “ghosts” a ghost, the narrative reveals hidden truths—specifically how Rose had become a ghost in her own life—hiding, shrinking, no longer speaking for herself. This awakening took center stage as the most significant theme in her healing process and ultimately, Giving Up the Ghost encourages readers to similarly ask themselves: what does it mean to live in the shadows? What am I hiding? And if I’ve lost my voice, or buried my truth in the shadows, am I ready to give up the ghost?

Discussion points:

• What happens when a woman who’s spent her life writing everyone else’s story finally tells her own?
• How to write honestly about family members, living and past, with respect to their “truth”
• Why writing can loosen the grip of grief and reveal truths hiding in plain sight
• How channeling the voice of a departed family member can evolve the relationship in the present tense and create continuing bonds
• The ways in which memoir writing is a form of “giving up the ghost” for all of us
• A reflection exercise for writing difficult truths

BIO
Samantha Rose is an Emmy award-winning television producer and a New York Times, USA Today, and internationally bestselling ghostwriter of nearly twenty titles, some that have been selected as Reese’s Book Club and Target Bookmarked Picks and featured in the Wall Street Journal, Oprah.com and Harper’s Bazaar. She is the principal of Yellow Sky Media, an editorial agency in Petaluma, California, where she supports writers on the path to publishing. Her newest release, Giving Up the Ghost: A Daughter’s Memoir was shortlisted for the Story Circle Gilda prize; is a Forward INDIE finalist, and won best memoir at the San Francisco Book Festival.

Social:
Web: yellowskymedia.com
IG: samantharose_writer

Upcoming Events
April 19, 2026 — Sacramento, CA 
Sacramento Book Festival

Meet Sam Rose and Other Sibylline Authors
April 27, 2026 — Summerland, CA 
Godmothers Books, 6p
In conversation with Libby Ward
Book Talk and Signing

May 6, 2026 — San Francisco, CA 
The Best Bookstore in Union Square
The Mental Load of Grief: In conversation with Eve Rodsky
Book Talk and Signing

May 31, 2026 — Berkeley, CA
Bay Area Book Festival
Meet Sam Rose and other Sibylline Authors