Jessica Bruder is an American journalist who writes about subcultures and teaches narrative writing at

Columbia Journalism School The Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism is located in Pulitzer Hall on the university's Morningside Heights campus in New York City. Founded in 1912 by Joseph Pulitzer, Columbia Journalism School is one of the oldest journalism scho ...

Early life

Bruder grew up in

Montclair, New Jersey Montclair is a Township (New Jersey), township in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated on the cliffs of the Watchung Mountains, Montclair is a commercial and cultural hub of North Jersey and a diverse ...

. She graduated from

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zepha ...

in 2000 and received a master's in journalism from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in 2005.(June 2018)
About the Author (Jessica Burder '00)
amherst.edu, Retrieved 5 March 2019

Work

Writing

Bruder has written for ''The New York Times'' since 2003. She worked in ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the West Coast of the United States, U.S. West Coast, founded as a weekly by Tho ...

''s now-closed Clackamas County bureau for nearly two years between 2006 and 2008, primarily covering breaking news, crime and the courts. She also writes for ''WIRED'', ''

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

'' and ''Harper's Magazine''. Her first book was ''Burning Book: A Visual History of Burning Man''. She also produced the film ''CamperForce'', directed by

Brett Story Brett Story is a Canadian documentary filmmaker, most noted for her 2016 film '' The Prison in Twelve Landscapes''. The film was awarded a $5,000 Special Jury Citation in the Best Canadian Feature Documentary category at the 2016 Hot Docs Canadi ...

. For her book '' Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century'' (2017), she spent months living in a camper van named Van Halen, documenting itinerant Americans who gave up traditional housing to hit the road full-time. The project spanned three years and more than 15,000 miles of driving, from coast to coast and from Mexico to the Canadian border. Named a ''New York Times'' 2017 Notable Book, ''Nomadland'' won the 2017 Barnes & Noble Discover Award, and was a finalist for the J. Anthony Lukas Prize and the Helen Bernstein Book Award.

Film

In February 2019,

Fox Searchlight Pictures Searchlight Pictures, Inc., formerly known as Fox Searchlight Pictures, is an American arthouse film production and distribution company, which since 2019 is owned by Walt Disney Studios, a division of the Disney Entertainment segment of the ...

announced that they would distribute the film adaptation of ''Nomadland'', also titled ''

Nomadland ''Nomadland'' is a 2020 American drama film written, produced, edited and directed by Chloé Zhao. Based on the 2017 nonfiction book '' Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century'' by Jessica Bruder, it stars Frances McDormand a ...

'', which had been optioned by

Frances McDormand Frances Louise McDormand (born Cynthia Ann Smith; June 23, 1957) is an American actress and film producer. In a career spanning over four decades, McDormand has received numerous accolades, including four Academy Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awa ...

and

Peter Spears Peter Spears (born November 29, 1965) is an American actor and filmmaker. He was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and raised in Overland Park, Kansas. Spears is best known for winning an Oscar for producing ''Nomadland'' (2020), and for producing ...

David Strathairn David Russell Strathairn (; born January 26, 1949) is an American actor. Known for his leading roles on stage and screen, he has often portrayed historical figures such as Edward R. Murrow, J. Robert Oppenheimer, William H. Seward, and John D ...

, Linda May and Charlene Swankie joined McDormand in the cast of the film, and

Chloé Zhao Chloé Zhao (born Zhao Ting; 31 March 1982) is a Chinese-born filmmaker. She is known primarily for her work on independent films. Zhao is the second of three women to win the Academy Award for Best Director for her film Nomadland. '' Songs ...

directed from a screenplay she wrote based on the book. McDormand, Spears, Mollye Asher, Dan Janvey and Zhao produced the Searchlight film. The film was a critical success and wound up winning numerous accolades, including the

Academy Award for Best Picture The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards (also known as Oscars) presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) since the awards debuted in 1929. This award goes to the producers of the film a ...

References

External links

Official website
Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Journalists from New Jersey People from Clifton, New Jersey Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni Amherst College alumni Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism faculty 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American women journalists 21st-century American journalists American women non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers {{US-journalist-20thC-stub