Happy 2026!
Thanks for finding me. I’m the author of 16 books (half fiction, half nonfiction) and have been "Dear Carol" at Girls' Life for 31 years—and a word nerd for even longer. My recent letter in the New York Times answered the question: Is Reading Sexy? I’ll be teaching writing in Provence, France, October 11-17, with Foreword Retreats but this winter I’ll mostly be in Manhattan or Montana.
My first book, GIRLTALK: All the Stuff Your Sister Never Told You came out in a dozen languages. Click for VERY PERSONAL ESSAYS and please take a peek at the photos in my HALL OF FAME. I’ve had 65+ Letters to the Editor in the New York Times on everything from silencing authors to Gabriel García Márquez to reading to kids to helping the hurting. I teach at the New York Society Library and am on X, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube. See?
SPEED OF LIFE came straight from the heart, as I explain on TikTok. Julia Alvarez wrote: “You won’t want to put it down.” It’s also an audiobook on Spotify. May I read you the first page? The New York Times called it "perceptive, funny and moving.” The critic said, “I laughed out loud and I teared up while reading this novel”—and let me tell you, I teared up reading that review! Kirkus, School Library Journal, PW, and Booklist stars. YALSA. New York Post: "Required Reading." Amazon, Audible, Libro.fm. Speed of Life Discussion Guide.
AVA AND PIP, AVA AND TACO CAT, and AVA XOX are my funny diaries of a fifth grader who’s obsessed with palindromes. The New York Times: "a love letter to language" that "perfectly captures the complexities of sisterhood." You can order them here. Knopf published my four novels, including, The Diary of Melanie Martin, about Melanie and Matt the Brat and their travels to Italy, Spain, Holland, and NYC.
Click here for how I got my start. Essays in Yale Alumni Magazine, Publishers Weekly, a Writer Experience podcast, and a recent interview.
Bio: Byram Hills HS in Armonk, NY; Twelfth grade in France (SYA); French/Spanish comp lit major at Yale (summa cum laude); M.A. in Spanish from Middlebury. I’ve been a guest onToday, The View, Oprah, Squawk Box, NY1, Twin Cities Live, CNN Español…
Husband Rob Ackerman is a playwright who spent 25 years at SNL and was honored at Working Theater. The New Yorker liked his Dropping Gumballs on Luke Wilson. Daughter Lizzi and her husband started Birch Benders pancake mix (Today Show, Forbes) and now E+Patrol! Daughter Emme just had a baby daughter!
