Meet the South Philly Author Behind the New TV Show Long Bright River
Liz Moore talks being one of Barack Obama's faves and what it's like to be really tall.
Long Bright River writer Liz Moore, who sees her book become a Peacock series in March / Liz Moore photograph by Stevie Chris, Long Bright River promotional image courtesy Peacock
South Philadelphia author Liz Moore published her novel Long Bright River in January 2020. Barack Obama loved it so much that he put it on his annual reading list. Five years later, this crime thriller about two sisters in Kensington comes to your TV screen this month via Peacock, premiering on March 13th. (Watch the promising trailer.) Here, Moore talks being really tall, living in the Italian Market, and her mean Trivial Pursuit skills.
I’m originally from … the Boston area.
When I was a little girl, I wanted to grow up to be … a writer, but I didn’t think that was a career someone could have.
I met the love of my life … in 2005, when Mac was one of my roommates in Brooklyn, a saga I wrote about in “Modern Love” for the New York Times. We moved to Philly in 2009, because Mac’s family was from this area and I got a writing fellowship at Penn.
These days, we live … near the Italian Market. Such a great place for families. Very neighborly. Really good restaurants and bookstores.
Mac is always asking me … to carry giant bags of basketballs for him. He coaches two youth teams and is the commissioner of two leagues. Basketball runs our life.
Our kids are always asking me … to go to Gleaner’s, a coffeeshop in the Italian Market. My daughter loves the Rosie. It’s half rose-infused lemonade and half iced tea. She highly recommends it.
When Barack Obama first put me on his reading list in 2020 for my novel Long Bright River … I woke up to hundreds of notifications on then-Twitter and was worried I had done something wrong. He did it again last year for The God of the Woods. The only problem is, he gives no notice that he is doing this, so the books often go out of stock. It’s a blessing and a curse. But I’m not complaining!
Being rejected as a writer is … inevitable. I’ve experienced it a lot. I’ve published five books now. And the first three were very quietly received. I had a lot of trouble selling the second one based on the sales of the first. It’s been a long arc.
I probably shouldn’t say this but … Philly has a better writing community than New York.
I usually wake up at … 5:40 a.m. That’s when I work on any fiction writing. It’s when my brain is the freshest and my children are still asleep.
The movie I have watched the most times is … Muriel’s Wedding.
One game you will never beat me at is … Trivial Pursuit. I have a deeply unpleasant competitive streak in trivia games. Love Quizzo.
If you’re pouring me a drink … I’ll take a Negroni.
My first job in life was … as a waitress at a country club. I was fourteen. It was terrible. I cried every day.
The most beautiful space in Philadelphia is … the Tiffany mural at the Curtis.
The best meal I’ve had in Philadelphia was at … Cantina la Martina in Kensington.
My other main talent is that I can … play guitar. I started as a teenager. We had a band, and I worked at a guitar store in the Village on the weekends during college. Also, I’m fluent in Italian. I lived for a year in Rome when I was 30 and decided I wanted to learn Italian. So I did.
One bad habit I simply cannot break is … not drinking water, basically ever.
If you’re looking for a new show to binge, might I suggest … Long Bright River, Peacock’s series based on my book. It’s about two sisters born in Fishtown who now live in Kensington. One of them is experiencing substance use disorder and goes missing. The other is a cop who goes looking for her.
The number of pets we have in our home is … zero. My husband has lied to our children and convinced them that we are even profoundly allergic to fish.
My last trip overseas was … to Italy, over Thanksgiving. It was a book tour for the Italian translation of The God of the Woods. Five cities in eight days — with Mac and our two kids.
When I’m not doing all of the above … I am the director of Temple’s MFA program in creative writing.
The first album I bought was … the Wayne’s World soundtrack.
If you see me walking down the street, you will probably think that I am … unusually tall. I always thought I was five-foot-eleven, but it turns out I am five-foot-ten. Disappointing. Also, people assume I’m a great basketball player. I am not. I am living a lie.
Published as “One of Us: Liz Moore” in the February 2025 issue of Philadelphia magazine.
