Running on Rooftops by Andrea L. Stout

Here is a story of foreignness, identity, and the leap into the unknown.

Blackwater Press is delighted to announce the launch of Running on Rooftops, by Andrea L. Stout, a poignant fictional memoir exploring what it means to step beyond one’s borders—geographical, emotional, and personal.

Anne Henry knows next to nothing about China—and even less about teaching. But when she accepts a one-year position at a Yinchuan English school, she finds herself navigating clashing worldviews, discovering friendship amid cultural collision, and confronting what it means to belong. From the dunes of the Gobi Desert to the dizzying heights of Mount Everest, Anne’s journey is a meditation on curiosity, connection, and courage.

With prose both vivid and tender, Stout captures the contradictions of being young and foreign—the beauty, the chaos, and the quiet heartbreak. As author Kate Mueser notes, “It’s a book for all humans, one that will inevitably leave you changed.”

About the Author
Andrea L. Stout is an American writer and university lecturer in literature, writing, and storytelling. She has spent more than two decades living and working abroad across Asia, Europe, and North Africa—experiences that deeply inform her reflections on foreignness, identity, and place.