Writing

Shapiro's novels include Playing with Fire, Fugitive Blue, Picturing the Wreck, Family History, Black & White, and Signal Fires. ^[10] Her best-selling memoirs include Slow Motion, Devotion, Still Writing: The Perils and Pleasures of a Creative Life, Hourglass: Time, Memory, Marriage, and most recently, Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love.^[11]

Signal Fires was named a best book of 2022 by Time Magazine^[12], Washington Post, and others, and is a national bestseller.^[13]

Angela Haupt writes: "On a cold night in 2010, a retired doctor sits underneath an ancient oak tree with the unusual little boy who lives across the street. The boy points out the constellations, and what they represent. The man—unlike anyone else in the boy’s life—listens. Though the boy doesn’t know it, this isn’t the first time their lives have intersected, and they’ll soon become linked again in a way that will endure time and distance. Signal Fires, Dani Shapiro’s first novel in 15 years, follows the man and his family, and the boy and his parents, across decades, lyrically examining the ways a single event can alter many lives forever." ^[14]

In Inheritance, Shapiro writes about her experience of learning through a recreational DNA test that her biological father was not Paul Shapiro; rather, she had been conceived by the primitive practice of mixing Paul's sperm with that of an anonymous donor, whom she later was able to identify.^[15] Inheritance debuted at #11 on the New York Times Best Seller list^[16] and Ruth Franklin called it "beautifully written and deeply moving."^[17] The San Francisco Chronicle described Inheritance as "as compulsively readable as a mystery novel, while exploring the deeper mysteries of identity and family and truth itself… a story told with great insight and honesty and heart."^[18] And Pulitzer Prize winning author Jennifer Egan wrote that “Inheritance is Dani Shapiro at her best: a gripping genetic detective story, and a meditation on the meaning of parenthood and family.” The memoir was included on several best-of-the-year lists, including that of Vanity Fair,^[19] Oprah Magazine,^[20] Lit Hub^[21] and Wired.^[22] Inheritance is being adapted for film by Shapiro's husband, journalist and screenwriter Michael Maren,^[23] in development with Killer Films.^[24]

In addition to The New Yorker,^[25] The Oprah Magazine,^[26] Vogue,^[27] and Elle^[28], Shapiro's writing has also appeared in Salon,^[29] and n+1,^[30] among others.

Screenwriting

Shapiro has also written for the screen; in 1999, she adapted Oscar Wilde's The Happy Prince for HBO and in 2000, she co-wrote a screenplay based on her memoir, Slow Motion, with Michael Maren.^[31] Shapiro is currently adapting Sue Miller's bestselling novel Monogamy for film for Killer Films and Yellow Bear Films.^[32] She is also adapting Signal Fires for its television adaptation.

Teaching

Shapiro has taught writing classes and workshops at NYU, Wesleyan University and Columbia University^[33] as well Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health,^[34] 1440 Multiversity,^[35] and Fine Arts Work Center.^[36] On March 31, 2020, she launched her first digital course, "Writing for Inner Calm: Methods & Exercises", on the Skillshare online learning platform.^[37]

She also co-founded Sirenland Writers Conference^[38] which takes place annually in Positano, Italy.

Podcasting

In collaboration with iHeart Radio, Shapiro launched the original podcast Family Secrets in 2019. Each episode of this iTunes Top 10 podcast features a conversation between Dani and a guest who's experienced a family secret and its effects.^[39] The podcast's seventh season premiered on September 1, 2022^[40] the podcast has over 30 million downloads.^[41]

In addition to Family Secrets, Shapiro created and hosted another podcast with iHeart Radio, The Way We Live Now, which launched in April 2020 and concluded in July 2020. The podcast examined the way people from all walks of life have coped during the COVID-19 pandemic.^[42]