Ann Napolitano at a Glance

Full Name: Ann Napolitano

Pronunciation: AN nuh-PAHL-ih-tah-noh

Born: October 21, 1971

Nationality: United States

Education:

• Connecticut College (BA)
• New York University (MFA, Creative Writing)

Genres:

• Contemporary fiction
• Psychological realism
• Domestic realism

Biography & Background

Ann Napolitano Biography

Ann Napolitano is a best-selling author whose four novels explore the simmering tensions and unshakeable bonds of family.

Since completing her MFA in creative writing at New York University, Napolitano has taught writing at numerous institutions, including New York’s Gotham Writers’ Workshop, New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies, and the MFA program at Brooklyn College. She also served as associate editor of the literary magazine One Story from 2014 to 2020. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband, the director, writer, and editor Dan Wilde, and their two sons, Malachy and Hendrix.

Napolitano’s most recent novel, Hello Beautiful (2023), was the 100th selection of Oprah’s Book Club, making it an instant bestseller and garnering significant attention for Napolitano’s work. In the wake of this success, her first novel, Within Arm’s Reach (2004), was reissued by Dial Press with a new cover. Her other novels include A Good Hard Look (2011), featuring a fictionalized version of the writer Flannery O’Connor and her community in Milledgeville, Georgia, and Dear Edward (2020), about a young boy who is the sole survivor of a commercial airline crash.