Taffy Brodesser-Akner

Last updated
Taffy Brodesser-Akner
Born
Stephanie Akner

1975or1976(age 48–49)
Alma mater New York University
OccupationJournalist
Spouse
Claude Brodesser-Akner
(m. 2006)
Children2
Website www.taffyakner.com OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Taffy Brodesser-Akner (born Stephanie Akner) is an American journalist and author. She has worked freelance and as a contributor for 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. Her first novel, Fleishman Is in Trouble , achieved widespread success.

Contents

Personal life

Born Stephanie Akner, Brodesser-Akner received the nickname "Taffy" at a young age and continued using it professionally. [1] She grew up in Brooklyn, New York, [2] in an Orthodox Jewish household. [3] She attended New York University.

She married Claude Brodesser in 2006. [2] Brodesser converted to Judaism, [2] a process that eventually led Akner to evaluate and reinforce her own observance of Jewish customs. [4] After marrying, both took hyphenated last names. [1] They have two children. [5]

Career

Journalism

Brodesser-Akner's first major journalism job was at Soap Opera Weekly, a job she held until her role was eliminated due to layoffs in June 2001. [6] She also wrote for Mediabistro [7] 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". [8] Her freelance articles often focused on celebrity profiles, several of which went viral. [9] In 2014, she became a contributing writer to both The New York Times and GQ. [7] In 2017, she became a full-time staff writer for The New York Times. [9]

In 2014, Brodesser-Akner won a New York Press Club Award for entertainment news in a magazine for her story about actress Gaby Hoffmann. [10] She won two New York Press Club awards in 2015, for her profiles of Damon Lindelof and Britney Spears. [11] The same year, Brodesser-Akner was nominated for a Mirror Award for her profile of Joey Soloway, [12] and she won the award in 2016 for her profile of broadcaster Don Lemon. [13]

Fiction and television

Her first novel, Fleishman Is in Trouble , was published in June 2019 by Random House in the US [14] [15] and by Wildfire in the UK. [16] The novel was selected for the longlist for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2020. [17] Brodesser-Akner has adapted the novel as a TV miniseries, which debuted on Hulu on November 17, 2022. [18] She received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie nomination for her work.

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References

  1. 1 2 Brodesser-Akner, Taffy (2013-07-30). "If Your Name Isn't Jolie-Pitt or Beyoncé Knowles-Carter: To Hyphenate or Ditch the Dash?". Vogue . Retrieved 2018-01-12.
  2. 1 2 3 Brown, Janelle (2006-04-06). "Taffy Akner and Claude Brodesser". The New York Times . Retrieved 2018-01-12.
  3. Brodesser-Akner, Taffy (2017-03-30). "The High Price of Leaving Ultra-Orthodox Life". The New York Times . Retrieved 2018-01-12.
  4. Brodesser-Akner, Taffy (2010-05-27). "Intermarried: My Husband, a Convert, Is More Observant Than I Am". Tablet . Retrieved 2018-01-12.
  5. Brodesser-Akner, Taffy (2018-07-25). "How Goop's Haters Made Gwyneth Paltrow's Company Worth $250 Million". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-06-30.
  6. Small, Jonathan (November 13, 2017). "Ep. 9 — New York Times Culture Writer Taffy Brodesser-Akner On Celebrity Profiles, Personal Essays, and Her Bizarre Brush with British Tabloid Fame from Write About Now". www.WriteAboutNow.com. Retrieved 2018-08-01.
  7. 1 2 Horgan, Richard (2014-10-22). "Taffy Brodesser-Akner Makes a Splash With GQ Feature Debut". Adweek . Retrieved 2018-01-12.
  8. Croatto, Pete (2017-10-27). "The most annoying thing an editor can do". Columbia Journalism Review . Retrieved 2018-01-12.
  9. 1 2 Bloomgarden-Smoke, Kara (2017-06-28). "New York Times Adds Feature Writer Taffy Brodesser-Akner to Staff". Women's Wear Daily . Retrieved 2018-01-12.
  10. O'Shea, Chris (2014-06-04). "NY Press Club Award Winners Announced". Adweek . Retrieved 2018-01-12.
  11. "The New York Press Club Journalism Awards". New York Press Club . Retrieved 2018-01-12.
  12. O'Shea, Chris (2015-04-15). "2015 Mirror Awards Finalists Announced". Adweek . Retrieved 2018-01-12.
  13. O'Shea, Chris (2016-06-09). "Mirror Award Winners Announced". Adweek . Retrieved 2018-01-12.
  14. "Book Marks reviews of Fleishman Is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner". Book Marks. Retrieved 2019-06-03.
  15. "Fleishman is in Trouble: Will Gompertz reviews Taffy Brodesser-Akner's debut novel ★★☆☆☆". BBC News. 27 July 2019.
  16. "Wildfire". February 2019.
  17. "Women's prize for fiction lines up 'heavy hitters' on 2020 longlist". TheGuardian.com . 3 March 2020.
  18. Cordero, Rosy (September 23, 2022). "FX's 'Fleishman Is In Trouble' Sets Hulu Premiere Date". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved September 23, 2022.