Meghan E. O'Toole

writer

I write because I am interested in the world.

I am interested in the future.

I am interested in you.

I aim for precision. I hope for delight.

Thank you for reading my work.

Award-winning beginner

2018 Virginia Woolf Award for Short Fiction

2021 Ploughshares Emerging Writer's Contest Winner

2024 Ninth Letter's Regeneration Contest Winner

Meet Meghan

Meghan O'Toole, MA is a writer from Illinois. She was raised by parents from Ireland and Poland, and the immigrant experience and folk tales from her parents' countries heavily influence her work. She was the 2021 fiction winner of the Ploughshares Emerging Writers’ Contest and the recipient of LitMag's Virginia Woolf Award for short fiction in 2018. She won Ninth Letter's Regeneration contest in 2024.

Meghan O'Toole is represented by Sophie Sheumaker at Bookends Literary.

“‘Good Food for Starving Things’—dark, abrupt, and a bit wild—is a deft cross-pollination concerning what it means to be a beast, and what it means to belong. With addictive and highly personal prose, O’Toole creates an even-handed exploration of the erosion of language, and the fraught difference between starvation and hunger. This is one of those chilling narratives that refuses to ask permission or forgiveness. It’s visceral and haunting, yet emotional and delightfully absurd."

Kiley Reid

day dreamer, light sleeper

CV

Stories

Content

copywriting + content

I approach my craft with attention, intention, and precision. When it comes to content writing, good words and great stories should come together to serve the unique needs of individual audiences. I strive to support and shape brand through writing. My background as an award-winning creative writer not only helps me tap into new ideas and creative potential, but also ensures that I am constantly innovating and striving for unique content that sets your brand apart.

Optimizing content should be more than tricking an algorithm. It should be about meaningful connection and substantial stories.

Connect with me about content and freelance work

“Meghan E. O’Toole’s fiction story “Abditory” . . . is a hazy and dreamlike exploration of how longing can manifest in dreams and become necessary for engaging with reality. . . O’Toole’s story successfully employs elements of magical realism, which create a vivid sense of place that is consistent in every scene. I instantly believed in the fictional world she created, and this lack of hesitancy to trust and settle into the story’s place drew me back for a second and third read."

Jamie Tews

“Through the lens of childhood, Meghan E. O'Toole's story 'Sundogs' captures the moment we are living: the ecological and societal destruction wrought by industrial food production is pervasive, and the window for embracing the promise of regenerative food systems that heal our land and rural communities is narrowing. 'Sundogs' speaks not only to that narrowing, but also to the hope that regeneration offers for the next generation. The story is a warning and a call to action, a layered narrative of our children’s reality and the restorative future we could give them instead, all delivered in poignant prose."

Stephanie Anderson