Nora Ephron

"With her rigorous, authentic, and insightful biography of Nora Ephron, Kristin Doidge has gotten us all an invitation to sit around that table—to spend time with Nora and be forever changed by the encounter. This is a brilliant book."—Caroline Aaron, actress Nora Ephron was one of the most popular, accomplished, and beloved writers in American journalism and film.Nora Ephron: A Biography is the first comprehensive portrait of the Manhattan-born girl who forged a path of her own, earning accolades and adoration from critics and fans alike. Author Kristin Marguerite Doidge explores the tremendous successes and disappointing failures Ephron sustained in her career as a popular essayist turned screenwriter turned film director. She redefined the modern rom-com genre with bestselling books such as Heartburn and hit movies including When Harry Met Sally, Sleepless in Seattle, and Julie & Julia. Doidge also examines the private life Ephron tried to keep in balance with her insatiable ambition. Based on rare archival research and numerous interviews with some of Ephron's closest friends, collaborators, and award-winning colleagues including actors Tom Hanks and Caroline Aaron, comedian Martin Short, composer George Fenton, and lifelong friends from Wellesley to New York to Hollywood—as well as interviews Ephron herself gave throughout her career—award-winning journalist and cultural critic Doidge has written a captivating story of the life of a creative writer whose passion for the perfect one-liner and ferocious drive to succeed revolutionized journalism, comedy, and film.The first in-depth biography to explore the complex themes that ran through Ephron's work and to examine why so many of them still grab our attention today.

"...Doidge hits the highlights of Ephron's multifaceted career in a biography that is both breezy and substantial." -- Booklist, "A cheerful view of an acclaimed filmmaker." -- Kirkus Reviews, "Doidge's vivacious, enthusiastic biography has serious undertones, much like Ephron herself. It will appeal to Ephron's broad swath of fans." -- Library Journal, "Kristin Marguerite Doidge [Nora] has an admiring first biographer who believes she taught women about risk, reinvention and hope...Nobody's perfect, but I want to have what she was having." -- Times Literary Supplement, "When Nora was just Nora, before she became the celebrated journalist, essayist, and filmmaker, she would go up to famous people at parties and introduce herself. 'Hi, my name is Nora Ephron' she'd say and invite them over for dinner. And they would come--the most interesting and consequential characters of New York at that time (Joan Didion, Liz Smith, John Gregory Dunne, Barbara Walters). Nora would cook and those dinners were full of good food, good fun, and great conversation. With her rigorous, authentic, and insightful biography of Nora Ephron, Kristin Doidge has gotten us all an invitation to sit around that table--to spend time with Nora and be forever changed by the encounter. This is a brilliant book."--Caroline Aaron, actress

Kristin Marguerite Doidge is an award-winning journalist, professor, and speaker based in Los Angeles. Her writing has been featured in The Atlantic, Marie Claire, FORTUNE, xoJane, Bustle, KCRW/NPR, Time Out Los Angeles, GOOD magazine, ETOnline.com, GIRLBOSS, and the Los Angeles Business Journal. She earned multiple NAEJ Awards and Los Angeles/Southern California Press Club Award nominations. She has a master's degree in specialized journalism from the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Journalism and teaches journalism and strategic public relations at Loyola Marymount University.