How to Write About Anyone with Taffy Brodesser-Akner

According to Wordfest's CEO Shelley Youngblut, this is the must-see author of 2019. "Taffy Brodesser-Akner is my hero – such a smart, funny, and deliciously original writer," Shelley says. "If you're looking for an experience that embodies my perfect Wordfest event, this is it!," Dive into her now-infamous New York Times Magazine profiles of Gwyneth Paltrow, Bradley Cooper, Margot Kidder and Tonya Harding, and you'll quickly understand why our Creative Ringleader is so damn happy to be able to share her Taffy love with all of you.

Presented in partnership with the Alberta Magazine Publishers Association, this event features an on-stage interview with Marcello Di Cintio about the in and outs, and the highs and lows of writing about people (famous or not), followed by an audience Q&A.

Indulge in the full Taffy Weekend Experience by adding her Friday night event (hosted by Shelley Youngblut and focused on Fleischman is in Trouble) to your ticket order. 

Buy your Taffy Akner T-Shirt Today!

About Fleishman is in Trouble

Toby Fleishman thought he knew what to expect when he and his wife of almost fifteen years separated: weekends and every other holiday with the kids, some residual bitterness, the occasional moment of tension in their co-parenting negotiations. He could not have predicted that one day, in the middle of his summer of sexual emancipation, Rachel would just drop their two children off at his place and simply not return. He had been working so hard to find equilibrium in his single life. The winds of his optimism, long dormant, had finally begun to pick up. Now this.

As Toby tries to figure out where Rachel went, all while juggling his patients at the hospital, his never-ending parental duties, and his new app-assisted sexual popularity, his tidy narrative of the spurned husband with the too-ambitious wife is his sole consolation. But if Toby ever wants to truly understand what happened to Rachel and what happened to his marriage, he is going to have to consider that he might not have seen things all that clearly in the first place.

“Anyone who has followed Akner’s illustrious career — from her hilarious and biting celebrity profiles with the likes of Bradley Cooper and Tom Hiddleston (at the height of Hiddleswift), to her deep dives into curious cultural phenomena like the rise of sugar daddies — will know she was destined to write a good book one day. Well, that day has arrived, and it’s just as blisteringly funny as you’d expect it to be — not to mention heartbreaking.”—Sheer Luxe

About Taffy Brodesser-Akner

Taffy Brodesser-Akner is a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine (click here for her most talked-about profiles). She has also written for GQ, ESPN the Magazine, and many other publications. Fleishman Is in Trouble is her first novel.