Joanna Rakoff

I've been largely holed up, working on my new book, but I couldn't say no to writing about Diane Keaton. This piece seems to have touched a nerve with many women, particularly of my age and older, and it may for you, as well. Regardless, if you'd like to take a look, here are a couple of little excerpts and link is in comments. xoxo

Two-plus weeks ago, I traveled to Los Angeles for the launch of Zibby Owens' moving, important anthology On Being Jewish Now at Zibby's Bookshop in Santa Monica. Like the other contributors involved, I was expecting, I don't know thirty or forty people milling around, sipping white wine and nibbling cookies. Fifteen minutes before the event was scheduled to start, I arrived at the shop, with the amazing Patty Lin, author of End Credits, and we both stopped, our jaws dropped open. An enormous crowd stood in from of the shop, and a line snaked all the way down the block and around the corner. This was, very clearly, not a typical literary event. Ultimately, 250-300 people showed up to meet the dozen contributors--pictured here, some of my favorites, like Elizabeth Silver, Anna Ephron Harari, David Israel, and Amy Ephron--buy multiple copies of the book, and generally have a moment of, I don't know, calm happiness, and relief after a harrowing year.

I myself was really bolstered by being in the same room with so many writers I love--some dear friends--and this huge crowd of ardent readers. Please can we do it again?

And if you're interested in the book, link in comments below. (I've not yet listened to it, but people seem to love the audio version, in which all the writers read their own essays.)

Joanna Rakoff

Last week, a bunch of you read my Cup of Jo essay on Gilmore Girls, and now…here’s the anthology for which I originally wrote it, edited by the marvelous Ann Hood, and in bookstores near you just in time for the holidays!!

The book version of my essay is longer and goes more into my identification with Rory and my life and a few other things, if you’re curious. Link in comments!

And I thought it might interest some of you to see my earliest drafts of the essay, written longhand on legal pads, and then printed and endlessly marked up. These are only a few of MANY drafts.

I channeled my inner Emily Gilmore to speak to the super-smart ladies of Hartford!! I think I got there, right?

Like you, I’ve spent the past two weeks in a state of shock and anger and confusion and fear, which may have been compounded by isolation: I had complicated sinus surgery the day after the election and have basically been in bed, trying not to spend all day reading news. And so it was extra-wonderful to break free of my house and head to Hartford, where I spoke to the super-engaged women of the Mandell JCC about my essay for Zibby Owens' anthology On Being Jewish Now, in conversation with Jodie Sadowsky, who may be the nicest person I’ve ever met, and Jennifer Lang. I left the event feeling more hopeful, and much less alone, than when I entered.

Zibby Owens

My latest essay, for Joanna Goddard , on my favorite show of all time, which helped me figure out how to be a mother and a daughter and also just my own Rory-like self!

I’d be delighted if you wanted to give it a read!!! ❤️

How Gilmore Girls Helped Me Understand My Mother | Cup of Jo Two decades ago, on a blistering winter night, I turned on the television, and my whole life changed...

I've been getting a lot of pleas for reading suggestions and realized that a. I've not been posting about my reading over the past few months (and I'll get back on it this week) and b. I'm not sure I've officially mentioned here that I write a monthly column for Jane Ratcliffe's wonderful Substack Beyond, which covers what I'm reading and watching and thinking about. If you'd like to follow along with my reading, perhaps subscribe! (Link in comments.) And here's my September column, which includes thoughts on Laurie Colwin and the concept of "women's fiction," and gets into four new (amazing) coming of age tales.

A Life in Books (and other wonderful things) with Joanna Rakoff Ah, the Nineties! When Joan Didion was considered a lightweight and novels about women were dismissed as "small"!

I talked with the wonderful Estelle Estelle Sobel Erasmus about my highly specific--not always popular!--approach to writing memoir. And also lots of other things. If you'd like to watch, and get a glimpse of my new office, here it is! (And if you'd like to listen, while driving, I'll post a link to the podcast episode in comments. xoxo

Writing Memoir That Reads Like A Novel And Captivates On Every Page Featuring Joanna Rakoff Writing That Gets Noticed is now in Poets & Writers "Best Books for Writers" FREE PITCHING GUIDE: Find out more about this episode #87 at https://estelleser...

So, next month, My Salinger Year turns TEN! And in celebration, a gorgeous collectors edition is being released by the UK publisher Slightly Foxed, which solely publishes special editions of classic (!!) literary memoir, from writers like Roald Dahl and Hilary Mantel. Last month, I sat down and talked with iconic BBC presenter Rosie Goldsmith (I was a little nervous) for Slightly Foxed's podcast, which will be out next week. But if you're interested, you can watch the interview now!

It's a slightly different conversation than I've had in the past, with a discussion of why the book hit a nerve with readers, and other similar matters!

‘There was no voicemail. I was the voicemail.’ | Joanna Rakoff & Rosie Goldsmith in Conversation In this out-of-series special episode of the Slightly Foxed Podcast Joanna Rakoff, author of the 2008 literary smash hit My Salinger Year (released as a Slig...