Anna Quindlen
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary, celebrated journalist and bestselling author, Anna Quindlen has given voice to the emotional undercurrents of our time. Her nationally syndicated columns were beloved for their candor and clarity—an ongoing conversation with readers about what it means to live a meaningful life in a complicated world. From gender and politics to grief and joy, her reflections made sense of the everyday and offered a guiding light through it. She is the only writer to have books appear on the New York Times bestseller list in fiction, nonfiction, and self-help. Her books have sold nearly 13 million copies and have been translated into 19 languages. Her most recent novel, the New York Times bestseller More Than Enough, explores the consequences of an ancestry test’s unexpected results. Praised by NPR for its “emotional sophistication,” Quindlen’s trademark warmth and humor light up this exploration of friendship, love, and hope.
“[Quindlen] is one of our most astute chroniclers of modern life.”
—The New York Times Book Review
Over the course of more than 20 books—including beloved novels like One True Thing, Black and Blue, Every Last One, Still Life with Bread Crumbs, Miller’s Valley and After Annie—Quindlen has written with unmatched compassion about family, friendship, womanhood, and the quiet strength and resilience that lives inside of ordinary people, even in the face of tragedy.
Quindlen’s memoirs, including Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake (a #1 New York Times bestseller), and the timeless A Short Guide to a Happy Life have become touchstones for readers seeking wisdom in the arc of their own lives. Her most recent nonfiction includes Nanaville: Adventures in Grandparenting and Write for Your Life, a heartfelt invitation to rediscover the transformative power of writing.
Quindlen began her career as a part-time reporter for The New Brunswick Home News, joining the New York Post while still an undergraduate at Barnard College. She rose to national prominence at The New York Times, where she became only the third woman to serve as a regular op-ed columnist and won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. Her columns—collected in Living Out Loud, Thinking Out Loud, and Loud and Clear—are as relevant now as when they were written. The recipient of over a dozen honorary degrees, Quindlen is a member of the New Jersey Hall of Fame.
For more information, please visit her at annaquindlen.net.
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary, celebrated journalist and bestselling author, Anna Quindlen has given voice to the emotional undercurrents of our time. Her nationally syndicated columns were beloved for their candor and clarity—an ongoing conversation with readers about what it means to live a meaningful life in a complicated world. From gender and politics to grief and joy, her reflections made sense of the everyday and offered a guiding light through it. She is the only writer to have books appear on the New York Times bestseller list in fiction, nonfiction, and self-help. Her books have sold nearly 13 million copies and have been translated into 19 languages. Her most recent novel, the New York Times bestseller More Than Enough, explores the consequences of an ancestry test’s unexpected results. Praised by NPR for its “emotional sophistication,” Quindlen’s trademark warmth and humor light up this exploration of friendship, love, and hope.
“[Quindlen] is one of our most astute chroniclers of modern life.”
—The New York Times Book Review
Over the course of more than 20 books—including beloved novels like One True Thing, Black and Blue, Every Last One, Still Life with Bread Crumbs, Miller’s Valley and After Annie—Quindlen has written with unmatched compassion about family, friendship, womanhood, and the quiet strength and resilience that lives inside of ordinary people, even in the face of tragedy.
Quindlen’s memoirs, including Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake (a #1 New York Times bestseller), and the timeless A Short Guide to a Happy Life have become touchstones for readers seeking wisdom in the arc of their own lives. Her most recent nonfiction includes Nanaville: Adventures in Grandparenting and Write for Your Life, a heartfelt invitation to rediscover the transformative power of writing.
Quindlen began her career as a part-time reporter for The New Brunswick Home News, joining the New York Post while still an undergraduate at Barnard College. She rose to national prominence at The New York Times, where she became only the third woman to serve as a regular op-ed columnist and won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary. Her columns—collected in Living Out Loud, Thinking Out Loud, and Loud and Clear—are as relevant now as when they were written. The recipient of over a dozen honorary degrees, Quindlen is a member of the New Jersey Hall of Fame.
For more information, please visit her at annaquindlen.net.
Women in the 21st Century: The Balancing Act
The greatest social revolution of our lifetime has been the changing status of women in America and around the world. They now make up more than half of our workforce, and dominate medical, law and journalism schools. So why has it been so hard for women to find balance between old roles and new ones? Why are so many of us feeling like there’s been great change, but not change enough? And where do men fit in?
Why Media Matters
Here’s a counterintuitive view — although the entire landscape of newspapers, magazines and television has changed, and many feel changed for the worse, journo veteran Quindlen argues that because of the internet it is easier to be well-informed now than at any time in history. The challenge is to learn how to be our own aggregators, to not only figure out a useful media diet but to assess what’s nourishing and what’s junk food.
Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake
You’d never know it, hearing about hip replacements and sagging skin, but survey after survey shows that older people are happier with their daily lives than their younger counterparts. And of course there are more of them; while the average life expectancy a hundred years ago was 56, today it’s nearly 80. That’s changed so much, in the way we work, live, think of ourselves and of the human condition. Is 70 the new 50, or is it just a brand new 70, with new rules and attitudes? And how can we take advantage of that change?
How Reading and Writing Will Ensure Our Democracy
It’s no accident that Hitler ordered book burnings and enslaved men and women were denied literacy as well as freedom. Reading and writing break down the walls between people and bring down the big lies of demagoguery. That’s why a literate United States is a more tolerant and democratic United States, and why a thirst for words, for consuming and using them, may be the greatest legacy we hand down to our kids.
Being Human: The Challenge for Health Care
It is a conundrum, that the better we have gotten at tackling many illnesses and conditions, the farther doctors and nurses have sometimes moved away from the people who have them. Transplanting hearts is an occasional miracle, but touching hearts should be done every day. Looking at a patient chart on the screen of a tablet doesn’t come close to looking a person in the eye. The same technology that enables us an unprecedented view inside the human body sometimes distances health care professionals from the spirit within that body. But both doctors and patients will benefit if we can change that, and the personal touch in other professions can show us how.
- More Than Enough (Random House, 2026)
- After Annie (Random House, 2024)
- Write for Your Life (Random House, 2022)
- Nanaville: Adventures in Grandparenting (Random House, 2019)
- Alternate Side (Random House, 2018)
- Miller’s Valley (Random House, 2016)
- Still Life with Bread Crumbs (Random House, 2014)
- Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake (Random House, 2012)
- Every Last One: A Novel (Random House, 2010)
- Good Dog. Stay. (Random House, 2007)
- Rise and Shine (Random House, 2006)
- Being Perfect (Random House, 2005)
- Loud and Clear (Random House, 2004)
- Imagined London (National Geographic, 2004)
- Blessings (Random House, 2002)
- A Short Guide to a Happy Life (Random House, 2000)
- Black and Blue (Random House, 1998)
- How Reading Changed My Life (Random House, 1998)
- One True Thing (Random House, 1994)
- Thinking Out Loud (Random House, 1994)
- Object Lessons (Random House, 1991)
- Living Out Loud (Random House, 1988)
- 1996 Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 1992 Pulitzer Prize for Commentary
Thank goodness for Anna Quindlen. [She] is smart. And compassionate. And witty. And wise.
Anna Quindlen is America’s Resident Sane Person. She has what Joyce called the common touch, the ability to speak to many people about what’s on their minds before they have the vaguest idea what’s on their minds.
Quindlen is an astonishingly graceful writer.
Quindlen has made a home at the top of the bestsellers lists with novels that capture the grace and frailty of everyday life.
- READ: Anna Quindlen on Aging, Faith, and Finding Your Voice, Maria Shriver’s Sunday Paper
- READ: Katie Couric Book Club Picks More than Enough, Katie Couric Media
- LISTEN: Anna Quindlen on Kelly Corrigan Wonders
- LISTEN: How To Start Writing (with Anna Quindlen and John Dickerson), How To!, Slate
- WATCH: Anna Quindlen on Motherhood, Katie Couric Media
BOOKS
More Than Enough
Quindlen is as observant and as wonderfully readable as ever, attuned to women’s lives and the nuances of their voices.
Jennifer Weiner, The New York Times Book Review
After Annie
Write for Your Life
Nanaville: Adventures in Grandparenting
Alternate Side
Miller's Valley
Still Life with Bread Crumbs
Videos
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