Melissa Broder
Melissa Broder | |
---|---|
Born | August 29, 1979 |
Education | Tufts University (BA) City College of New York (MFA) |
Occupations |
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Notable work | So Sad Today, The Pisces, Last Sext, Milk Fed |
Awards | Pushcart Prize |
Website | melissabroder |
Melissa Broder (born August 29, 1979) is an American author, essayist and poet. Her work includes the novels The Pisces (Penguin Random House 2018),[1] Milk Fed (Simon and Schuster 2021),[2] and Death Valley (Scribner, 2023);[3] the poetry collection Last Sext (Tin House 2016);[4] and the essay collection So Sad Today (Grand Central 2016),[5] as well as the Twitter feed also titled So Sad Today, on which the book is based.[6] Broder has written for The New York Times, Elle, Vice, Vogue Italia, and New York magazine‘s The Cut.[7]
Early life
[edit]Broder grew up in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, with her younger sister Hayley. Her father, Bob, was a tax lawyer and her mother owned a stationery store. She attended the Baldwin School and became interested in poetry early, writing her first collection in third grade.[5]
Broder attended Tufts University, where she edited the literary magazine Queen's Head and Artichoke. She graduated in 2001 with a degree in English and then moved to San Francisco, where she worked odd jobs before relocating to New York City at 25. There she worked as a publicist for Penguin Books and attended night classes at City College of New York, earning an MFA in poetry.[5]
Broder has been clean and sober since age 25.[8]
Career
[edit]Poetry
[edit]Broder has published five collections of poetry,[9] including Superdoom[10] (2021). She won a Pushcart Prize for the poem "Forgotten Sound",[11] included in her collection Last Sext.
Broder began tweeting anonymously from her So Sad Today Twitter account in 2012.[8] She began her So Sad Today column for Vice in December 2014.[5]
She revealed herself as the account's author in a Rolling Stone interview in May 2015.[12]
As of February 2021, the So Sad Today profile had more than 1 million followers.[13]
So Sad Today
[edit]In 2016, Broder published a collection of personal essays, So Sad Today, based on her Twitter account.[14] The collection includes some essays initially published in Vice under her So Sad Today pen name.[5]
The Pisces
[edit]In 2018 Broder published the novel The Pisces,[1] which garnered praise from The New York Times, The New Yorker, Vogue, and The Washington Post.
Milk Fed
[edit]In 2021, Broder published Milk Fed,[15] a critically acclaimed[16] novel that Kirkus called "[b]old, dry, and delightfully dirty."[17]
Other projects
[edit]Broder is adapting The Pisces for Lionsgate Films.[1]
She also writes the Beauty and Death column for Elle. In 2020 it was announced that a television show based on her novel Milk Fed was being developed. No news has emerged since then.[18]
Broder records a podcast titled eating alone in my car in which she openly discusses her work, daily life, obsessions, and "rants about everything from mortality to Poptarts to depression".[19] She has recorded near-weekly episodes of the podcast since May 2018.
Personal life
[edit]Broder is married and lives in Los Angeles.[20] She is a caregiver for her husband, who has a progressive neuroimmune disease that leaves him bedridden for months at a time.[21] She is bisexual.[22]
Bibliography
[edit]Poetry
[edit]- When You Say One Thing But Mean Your Mother (Ampersand Books, 2010)[23]
- Meat Heart (Publishing Genius, 2012)[24][25][26]
- Scarecrone (Publishing Genius, 2014)[27][28]
- Dust Moan (New Hive, 2014) [1][2]
- Last Sext (Tin House, 2016)[29][30]
- Superdoom: Selected Poems (Tin House, 2021)
Essay collection
[edit]- So Sad Today (Grand Central, 2016)[31]
Novels
[edit]- The Pisces (Penguin Random House, 2018)[32]
- Milk Fed (Simon and Schuster, 2021)[15]
- Death Valley (Simon and Schuster, 2023)[33][34][35]
Contributor
- The Ampersand Vol. 4 (Ampersand Book, 2009) [3] [4]
- Stoked V (2013) [5][6]
- Poetry Magazine December 2014 (Poetry Foundation, 2014) [7][8]
- Keep This Bag Away from Children 2 [9]
- The Hour of the Star (narrator, 2017) [10] [11]
- Through Clenched Teeth (Triangle House, 2018) [12]
- Regiment of Women (Modern Library, 2023) [13] [14]
- The Princess of 72nd Street: A Novel (Random House, 2024) [15] [36]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Syme, Rachel (April 26, 2018). "In 'The Pisces,' a Woman and a Merman Fall in Love. Aquatic Erotica Ensues". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 17, 2018. Retrieved May 14, 2018.
- ^ Rosenfeld, Lucinda (February 2, 2021). "A Novel of Sex, Faith and Lots of Yogurt". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on February 23, 2021. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
- ^ Watkins, Claire Vaye (October 1, 2023). "A Novel of Survival and the Sublime in the Mojave Desert". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 12, 2024.
- ^ "Fiction Book Review: Last Sext by Melissa Broder". Publishers Weekly. April 18, 2016. Archived from the original on August 2, 2016. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
- ^ a b c d e Joiner, Whitney (March 14, 2016). "Why Is Melissa Broder So Sad Today?". Elle. No. April 2016. Archived from the original on May 3, 2017. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
- ^ Lovitt, Bryn (March 15, 2016). "So Sad Today Author Melissa Broder on Twitter Anonymity and Internet Addiction". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on October 24, 2016. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
- ^ "A Night of "Bad" Sex". McNallyJackson.com. March 9, 2021.
- ^ a b Mlotek, Haley (March 24, 2016). "The Hidden Vulnerabilities of @SoSadToday". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on May 17, 2017. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
- ^ Volpe, Allie (March 14, 2016). "Melissa Broder happy to bring 'So Sad Today' back home". Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on July 30, 2016. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
- ^ "Superdoom: Selected Poems". TinHouse.com.
- ^ Henderson, Bill; Pushcart Press (January 1, 2017). "Pushcart prize XLI, 2017: best of the small presses". The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses. ISSN 0149-7863. OCLC 961956305.
- ^ Vozick-Levinson, Simon (May 19, 2015). "SoSadToday Reveals Her Identity and Existential Beach Read". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on May 16, 2017. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
- ^ "So Sad Today on Twitter". Twitter.com. Archived from the original on May 15, 2017. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
- ^ Coakley, Alexandra (May 4, 2016). "The Ocean of Sadness". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Archived from the original on April 29, 2017. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
- ^ a b Broder, Melissa (February 2, 2021). Milk Fed. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-9821-4249-0. Archived from the original on February 4, 2021. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
- ^ Bolonik, Kera (January 28, 2021). "Melissa Broder's 'Milk Fed' is a delicious new novel that ravishes with sex and food - The Boston Globe". Boston Globe. Archived from the original on February 3, 2021. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
- ^ MILK FED | Kirkus Reviews. Archived from the original on December 2, 2020. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
- ^ Walker, Harron (March 23, 2021). "The novel 'Milk Fed' queers—and redeems—the manic pixie dream girl trope". Xtra Magazine.
- ^ "SOSADTODAY'S Melissa Broder performs "Eating Alone in My Car"". litseen.com. October 24, 2019. Archived from the original on November 27, 2020. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
- ^ Bromwich, Kathryn (May 8, 2016). "So Sad Today's Melissa Broder: 'I just want to rip that chapter out'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on April 17, 2017. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
- ^ Carl, Cori (August 31, 2018). "So Sad Today". The Caregiver Space.
- ^ "Melissa Broder on Hunger, Humor, and Writing a Novel by Dictation". ELLE. February 16, 2021. Retrieved July 10, 2023.
- ^ Moysaenko, Peter (March 19, 2010). "Melissa Broder, When You Say One Thing But Mean Your Mother". BOMB Magazine. Archived from the original on March 21, 2017. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
- ^ Zingg, Matthew (April 14, 2012). "I Have a Jaw That Seeks Chunks". The Rumpus. Archived from the original on April 18, 2017. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
- ^ "Fiction Book Review: Meat Heart by Melissa Broder". Publishers Weekly. March 1, 2012. Archived from the original on October 20, 2020. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
- ^ Moysaenko, Peter (July 27, 2012). "Melissa's Meat Heart". BOMB Magazine. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
- ^ Diamond, Jason (February 25, 2014). "Melissa Broder Is Twitter's Most Fascinating Poet". Flavorwire. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
- ^ "Fiction Book Review: Scarecrone by Melissa Broder". Publishers Weekly. February 24, 2014. Archived from the original on October 20, 2020. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
- ^ Derby, Edward (April 21, 2017). "The Teenage Girl in All of Us: Last Sext by Melissa Broder". The Rumpus. Archived from the original on April 27, 2017. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
- ^ Delaney, Kellylouise (June 13, 2016). "What Is Melissa Broder's Last Sext?: Talking Poetry, God, and LA with the Darkly Brilliant Writer". Brooklyn Magazine. Archived from the original on June 18, 2016. Retrieved May 15, 2016.
- ^ Havrilesky, Heather (March 15, 2016). "Ask Polly and So Sad Today Talk About Feelings". The Cut. New York. Archived from the original on September 13, 2016. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
- ^ The Pisces by Melissa Broder | PenguinRandomHouse.com. Archived from the original on February 27, 2018. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
- ^ Broder, Melissa (October 24, 2023). Death Valley. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-6680-2484-3.
- ^ "Is Anybody Gonna Rescue Me? A Conversation With Melissa Broder". Los Angeles Review of Books. February 5, 2024. Retrieved September 11, 2024.
- ^ "Book Review: Death Valley by Melissa Broder". The Phoenix. December 17, 2023. Retrieved September 11, 2024.
- ^ "Melissa Broder On The Oddball 1979 Novel Having A Summer Renaissance". Nylon. August 6, 2024. Retrieved September 11, 2024.
External links
[edit]- Official website
- @sosadtoday on Twitter
- @melissabroder on Twitter
- 21st-century American poets
- 21st-century American women writers
- American women essayists
- 21st-century American essayists
- American women poets
- Tufts University School of Arts and Sciences alumni
- City College of New York alumni
- People from Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania
- Poets from Pennsylvania
- Novelists from Pennsylvania
- American women novelists
- 21st-century American novelists
- Living people
- 1979 births
- The Baldwin School alumni