Taffy Brodesser-Akner | |
|---|---|
| Born | Stephanie Akner 1975or1976(age 49–50) New York City, U.S. |
| Alma mater | New York University |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Spouse | Claude Brodesser-Akner (m. 2006) |
| Children | 2 |
| Website | www |
Taffy Brodesser-Akner (born Stephanie Akner) is an American journalist and author. She has worked freelance and as a contributor to GQ and The New York Times , where she is now a staff writer. Her profiles of celebrities have won her the New York Press Club Award and Mirror Award.
Brodesser-Akner's first major journalism job was at Soap Opera Weekly, a job she held until it was eliminated due to layoffs in 2001. [1] She also wrote for Mediabistro [2] and did freelance pieces for magazines including ESPN The Magazine , GQ , and Texas Monthly . The Columbia Journalism Review called her "one of the nation's most successful freelance writers". [3] In 2014, she became a contributing writer to both The New York Times and GQ, [2] and won a New York Press Club Award for entertainment news in a magazine for her story about actress Gaby Hoffmann. [4] She won two New York Press Club awards in 2015, for her profiles of Damon Lindelof and Britney Spears. [5] The same year, Brodesser-Akner was nominated for a Mirror Award for her profile of Joey Soloway, [6] and in 2016 she won the award for her profile of broadcaster Don Lemon. [7] In 2017, she became a full-time staff writer at The New York Times. [8]
Her first novel, Fleishman Is in Trouble , was published in 2019 by Random House in the US [9] [10] and by Wildfire in the UK. [11] The novel was longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2020. [12] Brodesser-Akner adapted the novel as a TV miniseries, which debuted on Hulu on November 17, 2022. [13] In 2023, she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie. Her second novel, Long Island Compromise , was published in 2024 by Random House in the US [14] and by Wildfire in the UK. [15]
Born Stephanie Akner, Brodesser-Akner received the nickname "Taffy" at a young age and continued using it professionally. [16] She grew up in Brooklyn, New York, [17] in an Orthodox Jewish household. [18] She attended New York University.
She married Claude Brodesser in 2006. [17] Brodesser converted to Judaism, [17] a process that eventually led Akner to evaluate and reinforce her own observance of Jewish customs. [19] After marrying, both took hyphenated last names. [16] They have two children. [20] She wrote that as a "3G" grandchild of Holocaust survivors, she was particularly alarmed when her son was called an antisemitic slur on the basketball court in Riverside Park, and her other son had a caricature done in Times Square that evoked antisemitic tropes. [21]
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