Steven Rowley

Steven Rowley is an American novelist whose works include Lily and the Octopus, The Guncle (2021) and The Celebrants (2023).

Career After writing a short story about the death of his dachshund, Lily, to cope with his grief, Rowley expanded it into a novel.

Rowley has since published six other novels: The Editor (2019); The Guncle (2021) and its sequel, The Guncle Abroad (2024); The Celebrants (2023); The Dogs of Venice (2025); and Take Me with You (2026).

He also published the children's picture book Our Guncle, illustrated by Eda Kaban, in May 2026.

Novels Lily and the Octopus (2016) The Editor (2019) The Guncle (2021) The Celebrants (2023) The Guncle Abroad (2024) The Dogs of Venice (2025) Take Me with You (2026)

Personal life Rowley met writer Byron Lane on the dating site OKCupid in 2013. Lane proposed marriage in the acknowledgements of his 2020 novel A Star Is Bored, and the pair married in April 2021.