Happy Holidays and 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. My recent letter in the New York Times answered the question: Is Reading Sexy? I will be teaching in Provence, October 11-17, with Foreword Retreats. Join me? It’s going to be incredible.
My first book, GIRLTALK: All the Stuff Your Sister Never Told You came out in a dozen languages. Click for VERY PERSONAL ESSAYS and HALL OF FAME PHOTOS. 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 on Spotify. Or let me 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! Kirkus, School Library Journal, PW, and Booklist stars. YALSA. New York Post: "Required Reading." Amazon—and Audible, Libro.fm. Speed of Life Discussion Guide.
AVA AND PIP, AVA AND TACO CAT, and AVA XOX are funny diaries of a fifth grader who’s obsessed with palindromes. The New York Times called it "a love letter to language" that "perfectly captures the complexities of sisterhood." Order here. My four Knopf novels include The Diary of Melanie Martin. Melanie and her brother, Matt the Brat, travel to Italy, Spain, Holland, and NYC.
Here’s 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…
My husband Rob Ackerman is a playwright who spent 25 years at SNL, recently honored at Working Theater. New play: BackTalk. The New Yorker liked his Dropping Gumballs on Luke Wilson. Daughter Lizzi and her husband started Birch Benders pancake mix: Today Show, Forbes. And try E+Patrol! Daughter Emme just had a baby daughter!
