Write for Your Life

From the #1 New York Times bestselling novelist and author of A Short Guide to a Happy Life comes an inspiring book that shows us how anyone can write, and why everyone should.

Write for Your Life is a guide for those who don’t, won’t, or think they can’t write, what Anna Quindlen calls “civilians.” Using examples past, present and future—from Anne Frank to Toni Morrison to members of her own family—Quindlen makes vivid all the ways in which writing connects us, to ourselves and to those we cherish. From love letters written after World War II to journal reflections from nurses and doctors today, and using her personal experiences not just as a writer but as a mother and daughter, Quindlen makes the case that recording our daily lives in an enduring form is more important than ever. All of our histories, of current events and personal challenges, can be understood and passed down through the written word; “to write the present,” Quindlen says, “is to believe in the future.” Write for Your Life is a clarion call to pick up the pen, and find yourself.

About the Author

Anna Quindlen is a novelist and journalist whose work has appeared on fiction, nonfiction, and self-help bestseller lists. She is the author of many novels: Object Lessons, One True Thing, Black and Blue, Blessings, Rise and Shine, Every Last One, Still Life with Bread Crumbs, and Miller’s Valley. Her memoir Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake was a #1 New York Times bestseller. Her book A Short Guide to a Happy Life has sold more than a million copies. While a columnist at The New York Times she won the Pulitzer Prize and published two collections, Living Out Loud and Thinking Out Loud. Her Newsweek columns were collected in Loud and Clear.

Author Residence: New York, NY

Author Hometown: South Brunswick, NJ