Dani Shapiro

Since emerging in the mid-‘90s with her debut memoir, Slow Motion, Dani Shapiro has become a much beloved author of fiction and nonfiction works. Shapiro’s work, which includes five novels, two memoirs and two collections of short stories, showcases her gift for distilling highly personal experiences into vibrant, fully realized stories that resonate with readers.

Born in JFK Medical Center in New Jersey in 1963, Shapiro was raised in a Jewish family in a tight-knit Jewish community in north Jersey. As a young adult, Shapiro worked her way through college, living like a “bohemian,” painting houses, waitressing and partaking in theater. After college, Shapiro attended the Columbia University School of the Arts and wrote short stories, setting in motion her career as a published author.

In 1995, Shapiro wrote and published her first memoir, Slow Motion, which follows Shapiro’s journey from childhood to adulthood and reflects on her identity as a young woman in a modern world. This memoir was met with critical acclaim and was selected by The New York Times and TIME Magazine as one of the best books of the year. In this book, Shapiro is open and honest about succumbing to a feeling of insignificance in her young adulthood, inspired by a particular incident in which she was told that she was “not interesting enough” to pursue a certain invitation.

Following the success of her memoir, Shapiro wrote three novels: Black & White, Devotion, and The Latest Winter. Black & White, first published in 2001, follows the lives of two women—one a single mother, the other a con artist—whose paths unexpectedly cross. Devotion, Shapiro’s most economically-successful book, is a love story which centers on an Orthodox Jewish marriage. Released in 2008, The Latest Winter follows the life of Lenny Abramov, an affluent Manhattanite who is faced with an impossible dilemma in the wake of a loved one’s death.

In 2017, Shapiro released the memoir Hourglass: Time, Memory, Marriage – an intimate account of Shapiro’s marriage to her husband, Michael Maren. The memoir interweaves recollections from her past with reflections on her marriage, meditating on the mysteries of time and memory as she navigates a tumultuous love affair.

Finally, Shapiro is the author of two award-winning collections of short stories, Fugitive Blue and A Lifetime of Secret Sentences. These collections display the full scope of Shapiro’s literary talent, from the devastating to the humorous, from the tender to the mordant.

In sum, Dani Shapiro is a powerful storyteller with deep empathy for her characters and an unflinching ability to recall and share personal experiences. Many of Shapiro’s works deal with big, difficult questions including identity, mortality, marriage, and family. Through her varied and acclaimed work, Shapiro has gained a wide and devoted readership. Her powerful writing often leaves readers with a lingering sense of consolation and hope.