Taffy Brodesser-Akner
Born
Stephanie Akner

1975 or 1976 (age 47–48)
New York City, U.S.
Alma materNew York University
OccupationJournalist
Spouse
Claude Brodesser-Akner
​
​
(m. 2006)​
Children2
Websitewww.taffyakner.com Edit this at Wikidata

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.

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.

References

  1. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b 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. ^ a b 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.

External links

Authority control databases
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