Dani Shapiro

Last updated

Dani Shapiro
Dani Shapiro 2018.jpg
Shapiro at the 2018 Texas Book Festival
BornDaneile Shapiro
(1962-04-10) April 10, 1962 (age 61)
New York City

Dani Shapiro is an American writer, the author of six novels including Family History (2003), Black & White (2007) and most recently Signal Fires (2022) [1] and the best-selling memoirs Slow Motion (1998), Devotion (2010), Hourglass (2017), and Inheritance (2019). [2] She has also written for magazines such as The New Yorker , The Oprah Magazine , Vogue , and Elle . [3] In February 2019, she created an original podcast on iHeart Radio called Family Secrets. [4]

Contents

Early life and education

Shapiro was born Daneile Shapiro [5] on April 10, 1962, in New York City. [6] She is the daughter of Paul Shapiro, from an Orthodox Jewish family (who, she later learned through a recreational DNA test, was not her biological father [7] ), and Irene Shapiro, from South Jersey. Shapiro attended a Solomon Schechter Jewish day school through 6th grade, after which she attended the Pingry School in New Jersey. [8] She attended Sarah Lawrence College, where she was taught by Grace Paley. [9]

Career

Writing

Shapiro's novels include Playing with Fire, Fugitive Blue, Picturing the Wreck, Family History, Black & White, and Signal Fires. [10] Her best-selling memoirs include Slow Motion, Devotion, Still Writing: The Perils and Pleasures of a Creative Life, Hourglass: Time, Memory, Marriage, and most recently, Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love. [11]

Signal Fires was named a best book of 2022 by Time Magazine [12] , Washington Post, and others, and is a national bestseller. [13]

Angela Haupt writes: "On a cold night in 2010, a retired doctor sits underneath an ancient oak tree with the unusual little boy who lives across the street. The boy points out the constellations, and what they represent. The man—unlike anyone else in the boy’s life—listens. Though the boy doesn’t know it, this isn’t the first time their lives have intersected, and they’ll soon become linked again in a way that will endure time and distance. Signal Fires, Dani Shapiro’s first novel in 15 years, follows the man and his family, and the boy and his parents, across decades, lyrically examining the ways a single event can alter many lives forever." [14]

In Inheritance, Shapiro writes about her experience of learning through a recreational DNA test that her biological father was not Paul Shapiro; rather, she had been conceived by the primitive practice of mixing Paul's sperm with that of an anonymous donor, whom she later was able to identify. [15] Inheritance debuted at #11 on the New York Times Best Seller list [16] and Ruth Franklin called it "beautifully written and deeply moving." [17] The San Francisco Chronicle described Inheritance as "as compulsively readable as a mystery novel, while exploring the deeper mysteries of identity and family and truth itself… a story told with great insight and honesty and heart." [18] And Pulitzer Prize winning author Jennifer Egan wrote that “Inheritance is Dani Shapiro at her best: a gripping genetic detective story, and a meditation on the meaning of parenthood and family.” The memoir was included on several best-of-the-year lists, including that of Vanity Fair , [19] Oprah Magazine , [20] Lit Hub [21] and Wired . [22] Inheritance is being adapted for film by Shapiro's husband, journalist and screenwriter Michael Maren, [23] in development with Killer Films. [24]

In addition to The New Yorker , [25] The Oprah Magazine , [26] Vogue , [27] and Elle [28] , Shapiro's writing has also appeared in Salon , [29] and n+1 , [30] among others.

Screenwriting

Shapiro has also written for the screen; in 1999, she adapted Oscar Wilde's The Happy Prince for HBO and in 2000, she co-wrote a screenplay based on her memoir, Slow Motion, with Michael Maren. [31] Shapiro is currently adapting Sue Miller's bestselling novel Monogamy for film for Killer Films and Yellow Bear Films. [32] She is also adapting Signal Fires for its television adaptation.

Teaching

Shapiro has taught writing classes and workshops at NYU, Wesleyan University and Columbia University [33] as well Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, [34] 1440 Multiversity, [35] and Fine Arts Work Center. [36] On March 31, 2020, she launched her first digital course, "Writing for Inner Calm: Methods & Exercises", on the Skillshare online learning platform. [37]

She also co-founded Sirenland Writers Conference [38] which takes place annually in Positano, Italy.

Podcasting

In collaboration with iHeart Radio, Shapiro launched the original podcast Family Secrets in 2019. Each episode of this iTunes Top 10 podcast features a conversation between Dani and a guest who's experienced a family secret and its effects. [39] The podcast's seventh season premiered on September 1, 2022 [40] the podcast has over 30 million downloads. [41]

In addition to Family Secrets, Shapiro created and hosted another podcast with iHeart Radio, The Way We Live Now, which launched in April 2020 and concluded in July 2020. The podcast examined the way people from all walks of life have coped during the COVID-19 pandemic. [42]

Personal life

Shapiro has been married since 1997 to screenwriter Michael Maren, [43] and they have a son, Jacob. [44] In the early 2000s, Shapiro and her family moved from Brooklyn, NY to Litchfield County, Connecticut. [45]

Books

Appearances (selected)

Awards

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toni Morrison</span> American novelist, essayist and academic (1931–2019)

Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison, known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist. Her first novel, The Bluest Eye, was published in 1970. The critically acclaimed Song of Solomon (1977) brought her national attention and won the National Book Critics Circle Award. In 1988, Morrison won the Pulitzer Prize for Beloved (1987); she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1993.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Shapiro</span> American political commentator and writer (born 1984)

Benjamin Aaron Shapiro is an American lawyer, columnist, author, and conservative political commentator. Shapiro writes columns for Creators Syndicate, Newsweek, and Ami Magazine, and serves as editor emeritus for The Daily Wire, which he co-founded in 2015. Shapiro is the host of The Ben Shapiro Show, a daily political podcast and live radio show. He was editor-at-large of Breitbart News from 2012 until his resignation in 2016. Shapiro has authored sixteen books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruth Reichl</span> American chef, writer, and editor

Ruth Reichl, is an American chef, food writer and editor. In addition to two decades as a food critic, mainly spent at the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times, Reichl has also written cookbooks, memoirs and a novel, and been co-producer of PBS's Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie, culinary editor for the Modern Library, host of PBS's Gourmet's Adventures With Ruth, and editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine. She has won six James Beard Foundation Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sue Monk Kidd</span> American novelist and memoirist

Sue Monk Kidd is an American writer from Sylvester, Georgia best known for her novels The Secret Life of Bees and The Invention of Wings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irène Némirovsky</span> French novelist

Irène Némirovsky was a novelist of Ukrainian Jewish origin who was born in Kiev, then in the Russian Empire. She lived more than half her life in France, and wrote in French, but was denied French citizenship. Arrested as a Jew under the racial laws – which did not take into account her conversion to Roman Catholicism – she was murdered in Auschwitz at the age of 39. Némirovsky is best known for the posthumously published Suite française.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Danielle Trussoni</span> American novelist

Danielle Anne Trussoni is a New York Times, USA Today, and Sunday Times Top 10 bestselling novelist. She has been a Pulitzer Prize in Fiction jurist, and wrote the "Dark Matters" column for the New York Times Book Review for five years, from 2018-2023. She is a graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop, where she was a Maytag Fellow. Her novels have been translated into 33 languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maggie O'Farrell</span> Irish-British novelist, born 1972

Maggie O'Farrell, RSL, is a novelist from Northern Ireland. Her acclaimed first novel, After You'd Gone, won the Betty Trask Award, and a later one, The Hand That First Held Mine, the 2010 Costa Novel Award. She has twice been shortlisted since for the Costa Novel Award: for Instructions for a Heatwave in 2014 and This Must Be The Place in 2017. She appeared in the Waterstones 25 Authors for the Future. Her memoir I am, I am, I am: Seventeen Brushes with Death reached the top of the Sunday Times bestseller list. Her novel Hamnet won the Women's Prize for Fiction in 2020, and the fiction prize at the 2020 National Book Critics Circle Awards. The Marriage Portrait was shortlisted for the 2023 Women's Prize for Fiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Deborah Copaken</span> American photographer and writer

Deborah Elizabeth Copaken is an American author and photojournalist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cheryl Strayed</span> American writer (born 1968)

Cheryl Strayed is an American writer and podcast host. She has written four books: the novel Torch (2006) and the nonfiction books Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail (2012), Tiny Beautiful Things (2012) and Brave Enough (2015). Wild, the story of Strayed’s 1995 hike up the Pacific Crest Trail, is an international bestseller and was adapted into the 2014 Academy Award-nominated film Wild.

Lisa Mangum is an American author and editor best known for her young adult romance trilogy beginning with The Hourglass Door. She has worked as an editor at Deseret Book since 1997, and became the editorial manager at Shadow Mountain in 2014. She has edited several anthologies for WordFire Press, as well as authoring several short fiction and nonfiction works.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Shapiro</span>

Susan Shapiro is the American author of 17 books, including The Byline Bible,Five Men Who Broke My Heart, Only as Good as Your Word, Lighting Up, Speed Shrinking, and What's Never Said, and coauthor of The Bosnia List and the New York Times bestseller Unhooked.

<i>Wild</i> (memoir) Book by Cheryl Strayed

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail is the 2012 memoir by the American writer, author, and podcaster Cheryl Strayed. The memoir describes Strayed's 1,100-mile hike on the Pacific Crest Trail in 1995 as a journey of self-discovery. The book reached No. 1 on the New York Times Best Seller list, and was the first selection for Oprah's Book Club 2.0.

Michael Maren is an American journalist, screenwriter, and director.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roxane Gay</span> American writer (born 1974)

Roxane Gay is an American writer, professor, editor, and social commentator. Gay is the author of The New York Times best-selling essay collection Bad Feminist (2014), as well as the short story collection Ayiti (2011), the novel An Untamed State (2014), the short story collection Difficult Women (2017), and the memoir Hunger (2017).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katy Tur</span> American television journalist

Katherine Bear Tur is an American author and broadcast journalist working as a correspondent for NBC News. Tur is an anchor for MSNBC, where since 2021 she has hosted Katy Tur Reports. She has also reported for the NBC news platforms Early Today, Today, NBC Nightly News, Meet the Press, and WNBC-TV, and for The Weather Channel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Esther Perel</span> Belgian Psychotherapist and Author (born 1958)

Esther Perel is a Belgian-American psychotherapist, known for her work on human relationships.

Joanna Rakoff is an American novelist and memoirist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glennon Doyle</span> American author (born 1976)

Glennon Doyle is an American author and queer activist known for her books Untamed,Love Warrior, and Carry On, Warrior. Doyle is also the creator of the online community Momastery, and is the founder and president of Together Rising, an all-women-led nonprofit organization supporting women, families, and children in crisis.

Elizabeth "Zibby" Owens, is an American writer and podcast host based in New York City. Her podcast is called Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books.

Stephanie Danler is an American author. Her debut novel, Sweetbitter (2016), was a New York Times bestseller and was adapted into a television show by the same name. She released a memoir, Stray, in 2020.

References

  1. ↑ Rankin, Seija (October 27, 2021). "Dani Shapiro is publishing her first novel in 15 years: 'It was like a lightning bolt'". EW.com. Retrieved November 1, 2021.
  2. ↑ "Contact & Bio". Dani Shapiro. August 26, 2013. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  3. ↑ "Barnes & Noble Interview & Writer Details". Archived from the original on March 19, 2008. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  4. ↑ "Podcast Spotlight: Nothing Stays Hidden For Long on "Family Secrets" | iHeartRadio Blog". blog.iheart.com. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  5. ↑ Shapiro, Dani (1019). Inheritance. Knopf. p. 228. ISBN   1524732710.
  6. ↑ Maran, Meredith (2016). Why We Write About Ourselves: Twenty Memoirists on Why They Expose Themselves (and Others) in the Name of Literature. Plume. ISBN   978-0142181973.
  7. 1 2 "Author Dani Shapiro discovers her dad isn't her biological father after DNA test". www.cbsnews.com. April 6, 2019. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  8. ↑ Mindell, Cindy. "Q & A: Author Dani Shapiro", Jewish Ledger , January 12, 2011. Accessed February 11, 2011.
  9. ↑ "Dani Shapiro | Inspiring People | Living Louder | DanaRoc.com". www.danaroc.com. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  10. ↑ "New Dani Shapiro Novel Coming in 2022". Kirkus Reviews. Retrieved December 29, 2021.
  11. ↑ "Books by Dani Shapiro (Author of Inheritance)". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  12. ↑ "The 100 Must-Read Books of 2022". Time. Retrieved November 22, 2022.
  13. ↑ "Signal Fires". Dani Shapiro. March 28, 2022. Retrieved November 22, 2022.
  14. ↑ "'Signal Fires' Is One of the 100 Must-Read Books of 2022". Time. November 14, 2022. Retrieved November 22, 2022.
  15. ↑ Ridley, Jane (January 12, 2019). "I'm the result of a secret sperm concoction" . Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  16. ↑ "Hardcover Nonfiction Books - Best Sellers". The New York Times. February 3, 2019. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  17. ↑ Franklin, Ruth (January 15, 2019). "March's Book Club Pick: Dani Shapiro's New Memoir Uncovers a Life-Changing Family Secret". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  18. ↑ Brandeis, Gayle (February 18, 2019) [February 5, 2019]. "True blood: A review of 'Inheritance,' a memoir by Dani Shapiro". San Francisco Arts & Entertainment Guide. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  19. ↑ "The Best Books of 2019, So Far". Vanity Fair. July 8, 2019. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  20. ↑ "Calling It Now: Everyone Will Talk About These 4 Books All Year Long". Oprah Magazine. January 7, 2019. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  21. ↑ "Lit Hub's Most Anticipated Books of 2019". Literary Hub. December 28, 2018. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  22. ↑ "12 Science Books You Should Read Right Now". Wired. ISSN   1059-1028 . Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  23. ↑ Gillette, Sam (March 28, 2022). "Dani Shapiro Shares Excerpt From Her Upcoming Novel Signal Fires, Her 'Most Personal Book' Yet". PEOPLE.com. Retrieved March 29, 2022.
  24. ↑ "Cami Delavigne Penning Feature Adaptation of Dani Shapiro's "Inheritance" for Killer Films". womenandhollywood.com. Retrieved October 1, 2021.
  25. ↑ "Dani Shapiro". The New Yorker. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  26. ↑ "What Nobody Tells You About Painful Regrets". Oprah.com. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  27. ↑ "Dani Shapiro". Vogue. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  28. ↑ "Dani Shapiro". Elle. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  29. ↑ "Dani Shapiro | Salon.com". www.salon.com. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  30. ↑ "Shapiro/Dani". n+1. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  31. ↑ "Dani Shapiro". IMDb. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  32. ↑ D'Alessandro, Anthony (May 4, 2021). "Killer Films & Yellow Bear Films Close Deal For Sue Miller Bestselling Novel 'Monogamy', Holly Hunter In Talks To Star". Deadline. Retrieved July 26, 2021.
  33. ↑ Shapiro, Dani (June 15, 2011). "#amwriting". NPlusOne. Retrieved June 16, 2011.
  34. ↑ "The Stories We Carry Meditation and Writing". Kripalu. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
  35. ↑ "The Stories We Carry - 1440 Multiversity". www.1440.org. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
  36. ↑ "Transforming Chaos into Art: A Workshop in Fiction & Memoir". Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. January 9, 2020. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
  37. ↑ "Writing for Inner Calm: A Mindset, Methods, and Daily Exercises for All | Dani Shapiro". Skillshare. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
  38. ↑ Barberich, Christene. "Dani Shapiro On How Writing Saved Her Life — & How It Can Save Yours". www.refinery29.com. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
  39. ↑ "The Family Secrets Podcast", Severance Magazine, September 2, 2019
  40. ↑ "Family Secrets: Season 7 Trailer - Family Secrets". iHeart. Retrieved November 22, 2022.
  41. ↑ "Family Secrets". Dani Shapiro. February 9, 2019. Retrieved October 1, 2021.
  42. ↑ "Dani Shapiro's New Daily Podcast "The Way We Live Now" Will Keep You Company While Practicing Social Distancing | iHeartRadio Blog". blog.iheart.com. Retrieved April 14, 2020.
  43. ↑ Weddings: "Dani Shapiro, Michael P Maren", The New York Times , June 8, 1997.
  44. ↑ "Dani Shapiro's 'Hourglass' Explores A Marriage Over TimeLitchfield County resident and bestselling memoirist Dani Shapiro discusses her latest book, Hourglass". www.ruralintelligence.com. May 9, 2017. Retrieved April 3, 2020.
  45. ↑ Shaw, Dan (October 24, 2013). "Dani Shapiro's Provident Move to the Country". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved April 3, 2020.
  46. ↑ "Dani Shapiro Archives". SuperSoul.tv. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  47. ↑ Dani Shapiro Opens Up About DNA Shocker That Changed Her Life | TODAY , retrieved April 6, 2020
  48. ↑ "'Inheritance' author Dani Shapiro answers your questions". PBS NewsHour. March 31, 2020. Retrieved April 6, 2020.
  49. ↑ "Signal Fires | Jewish Book Council". www.jewishbookcouncil.org. 2022. Retrieved February 7, 2023.
  50. ↑ "Past Winners". Jewish Book Council. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
  51. ↑ "Announcing the Goodreads Choice Winner in Best Memoir & Autobiography!". Goodreads. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
  52. ↑ "Grant, Shapiro and Jacobson make Wingate Prize longlist | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com. Retrieved May 3, 2020.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.