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 author, essayist and poet. Her work includes the novels The Pisces (Penguin Random House 2018)[1] and Milk Fed (Simon and Schuster 2021),[2] the poetry collection Last Sext (Tin House 2016),[3] and the essay collection So Sad Today (Grand Central 2016),[4] as well as the Twitter feed also titled So Sad Today, on which the book is based.[5] Broder has written for The New York Times, Elle, Vice, Vogue Italia, and New York magazine‘s The Cut.[6]
Early life
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.[4]
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.[4]
Broder has been clean and sober since age 25.[7]
Career
Poetry
Broder has published five collections of poetry,[8] including Superdoom[9] (2021). She won a Pushcart Prize for the poem "Forgotten Sound",[10] included in her collection Last Sext.
Broder began tweeting anonymously from her So Sad Today Twitter account in 2012.[7] She began her So Sad Today column for Vice in December 2014.[4]
She revealed herself as the account's author in a Rolling Stone interview in May 2015.[11]
As of February 2021, the So Sad Today profile had more than 1 million followers.[12]
So Sad Today
In 2016, Broder published a collection of personal essays, So Sad Today, based on her Twitter account.[13] The collection includes some essays initially published in Vice under her So Sad Today pen name.[4]
The Pisces
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
In 2021, Broder published Milk Fed,[14] a critically acclaimed[15] novel that Kirkus called "[b]old, dry, and delightfully dirty."[16]
Other projects
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.[17]
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".[18] She has recorded near-weekly episodes of the podcast since May 2018.
Personal life
Broder is married and lives in Los Angeles.[19] She is a caregiver for her husband, who has a progressive neuroimmune disease that leaves him bedridden for months at a time.[20] She is bisexual.[21]
Bibliography
Poetry
Essay collection
- So Sad Today (Grand Central, 2016)[30]
Novels
- The Pisces (Penguin Random House, 2018)[31]
- Milk Fed (Simon and Schuster, 2021)[14]
- Death Valley (Simon and Schuster, 2023)[32]
Contributor
References
- 1 2 3 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.
- ↑ "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.
- 1 2 3 4 5 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.
- 1 2 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.
- 1 2 Broder, Melissa (February 2, 2021). Milk Fed. 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. ISBN 978-1-6680-2484-3.
External links
- Official website
- @sosadtoday on Twitter
- @melissabroder on Twitter