Stephanie Danler
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Stephanie Danler (born 1983) is an American author. Her debut novel, '' Sweetbitter'' (2016), was a ''New York Times'' bestseller and was adapted into a television show by the same name. She released a memoir, ''Stray'', in 2020. Danler has a novel forthcoming from Scribner Books titled ''Smog'', described as a
neo-noir Neo-noir is a film genre that adapts the visual style and themes of 1940s and 1950s American film noir for contemporary audiences, often with more graphic depictions of violence and sexuality. During the late 1970s and the early 1980s, the term ...
novel that takes place in Los Angeles during the 1990s.


Life

Danler grew up in
Seal Beach, California Seal Beach is a coastal city in Orange County, California, United States. It was originally known as Bay City before it was incorporated into Orange County under its current on October 24, 1911. As of the 2020 census, the population was 25,242 ...
. At age 16, she moved to
Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city in Boulder County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most ...
, to live with her father. She attended
Kenyon College Kenyon College ( ) is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Gambier, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1824 by Episcopal Bishop Philander Chase. It is the oldest private instituti ...
in Ohio. After moving to New York in 2006, Danler worked at Union Square Cafe for a year and earned an MFA in creative writing at
the New School The New School is a Private university, private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for p ...
. She was working at Buvette, a restaurant in the West Village when she earned her first book deal''.'' In her early 30s, she moved to
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
. As of May 2020, she was living in Silver Lake with her husband and son, and was expecting her second child. Danler moved her family to Barcelona to work on ''Stray'' for a brief time, before returning to Los Angeles.


Writing career

In 2014, Danler secured a six-figure, two-book publication deal with
Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Blanche Knopf and Alfred A. Knopf Sr. in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers ...
. She had sent her manuscript for ''Sweetbitter'' to an editor at
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a regular customer at Buvette who mentioned it to a colleague, who then acquired the book for Knopf. ''Sweetbitter'', a novel based on her experiences of working at Union Square Cafe, was published in 2016. It earned a starred review in ''
Kirkus ''Kirkus Reviews'' is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus. The magazine's publisher, Kirkus Media, is headquartered in New York City. ''Kirkus Reviews'' confers the annual Kirkus Prize to authors of fiction, non ...
'' and was a ''New York Times'' bestseller. A review in ''
The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...
'' said that "Danler deftly captures the unique power of hierarchy in the restaurant world, the role of drug and alcohol abuse, and the sense of borrowed grandeur that pervades the serving scene." A television adaptation ('' Sweetbitter)'', created by Danler, Stuart Zicherman, and
Plan B Entertainment Plan B Entertainment, Inc., more commonly known as Plan B, is an American production company founded in November 2001 by Brad Pitt, Brad Grey, Kristin Hahn and Jennifer Aniston. The company first signed with Warner Bros. as a replacement for ...
, premiered on
Starz Starz (stylized in all caps as STARZ; pronounced "stars") is an American pay television network owned by Starz Entertainment, and is the flagship property of Starz Inc. Launched in 1994 as a multiplex service of what is now Starz Encore, ...
in 2018 and aired for two seasons. In 2019, Danler was granted the Robert B. Heilman award by
the Sewanee Review ''The Sewanee Review'' is an American literary magazine established in 1892. It is the oldest continuously published quarterly in the United States. It publishes original fiction and poetry, essays, reviews, and literary criticism. History '' ...
for her review of
Lisa Taddeo Lisa Taddeo is an American author and journalist known for her book '' Three Women''. Taddeo's work has appeared in ''The Best American Political Writing'' and '' The Best American Sports Writing'' anthologies. Early life Taddeo was born in Shor ...
’s Three Women. In 2020, she published a memoir'', Stray'', about "familial dysfunction and
addiction Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to use a drug or engage in a behavior that produces natural reward, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use can ...
" and "the entanglement of love and disappointment." ''Kirkus'' called it a "mostly moving text in which writing is therapeutic and family trauma is useful material." A review in ''The New York Times'' described it as "carefully concocted but unfermented."
Marion Winik Marion Winik is an American journalist and author, best known for her work on NPR's ''All Things Considered''. Early life and education Winik was born in Manhattan in 1958 and grew up on the Jersey shore. She graduated from Brown University in ...
, writing for ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'', gave ''Stray'' a mixed review with the comment: "Despite the author’s skills at observation and phrasemaking, the narrative manages to ping-pong between the two most dangerous possibilities in memoir: boring on one side, TMI on the other." A review from the ''New Yorker'' noted that the memoir is “unsparing” but “tempered with the tenderness of Danler’s language, and with her willingness to reserve her harshest rebukes for herself.”


Works

* '' Sweetbitter'' (2016) * ''Stray: A Memoir'' (2020)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Danler, Stephanie 1983 births Living people Kenyon College alumni The New School alumni Writers from Manhattan 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American memoirists American women memoirists 21st-century American novelists American women novelists Memoirists from New York (state) Memoirists from California People from Seal Beach, California