Renata Adler

Renata Adler was, for nearly 40 years, one of the "New Yorker"'s most well-known--not to mention controversial--writers. Reporting on ranging issues, from the Selma riots to Vietnam, the Biafran wars and American culture in general, she was one of the era's most important journalists. She was also acclaimed for several seminal books of reportage, including "Reckless Disregard" and "A Year in the Dark," a collection of her film criticism written for the "New York Times." But Adler's fiction...See more

Renata Adler was, for nearly 40 years, one of the "New Yorker"'s most well-known--not to mention controversial--writers. Reporting on ranging issues, from the Selma riots to Vietnam, the Biafran wars and American culture in general, she was one of the era's most important journalists. She was also acclaimed for several seminal books of reportage, including "Reckless Disregard" and "A Year in the Dark," a collection of her film criticism written for the "New York Times." But Adler's fiction writing made an equally big splash. Her very first story publication, "Brownstone," won the O. Henry Award as best story of the year; and then as one of the O. Henry Prize's best stories of the decade. Her first novel, "Speedboat," was a bestseller and won the Ernest Hemingway Award for Best First Novel of the year. Her second novel, "Pitch Dark," an even bigger bestseller, also achieved widespread acclaim, prompting "New York Times Book Review" editor John Leonard to say in a review, "Nobody writes better prose than Renata Adler." See less