Patty Dann

{{short description|American novelist and nonfiction writer|bot=PearBOT 5}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Patty Dann

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1953|10|30}}

| birth_name =

| birth_place = New York City, U.S.

| alma_mater = University of Oregon (BA)
Columbia University (MFA)

| occupation = Writer

| spouse = {{plainlist|

{{marriage|Willem Nooter|1991|2000|reason=his death}}
{{marriage|Michael Hill|2008}}{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/fashion/weddings/13DANN.html?mtrref=www.google.com&gwh=DDB2F47CB910A1A9A87B80BFC2DB1FD7&gwt=pay&assetType=REGIWALL|work=The New York Times|date=July 13, 2008|title=Patty Dann, Michael Hill|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200109092550/https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/fashion/weddings/13DANN.html?mtrref=www.google.com&gwh=DDB2F47CB910A1A9A87B80BFC2DB1FD7&gwt=pay&assetType=REGIWALL|archive-date=January 9, 2020|url-status=live}}

}}

| children = 1

}}

Patty Dann{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Television |date=3 February 2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-19479-6 |editor=Newcomb, Horace |edition=2nd |location=New York City, New York |page=656}} (born October 30, 1953) is an American novelist and nonfiction writer. She studied at the University of Oregon, and later earned an MFA in writing from Columbia University. While working at the A&E network in 1986, she revised Mermaids, a coming-of-age novel she had written as her master's thesis, which was subsequently published by Ticknor and Fields. It was later made into a feature film of the same name in 1990.

Dann is also the author of the novels The Wright Sister (2020), Sweet & Crazy (2003), and Starfish (2013), the latter of which is a sequel to Mermaids. She has also written nonfiction works, including The Butterfly Hours: Transforming Memories into Memoir, The Baby Boat: A Memoir of Adoption (1998), focusing on the adoption of her son, and The Goldfish Went on Vacation: A Memoir of Loss (2007), which reflected on the death of her husband.

Early life and education

Dann was born on October 30, 1953, in New York City{{cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/dann-patty-1953|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia.com|title=Dann, Patty (1953–)|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200109092150/https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/dann-patty-1953|archive-date=January 9, 2020|url-status=live}} to Joanne ({{nee}} Himmell) and Michael Dann, a comedy writer-turned-television executive at NBC and CBS.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/31/business/media/michael-dann-tv-programmer-who-scheduled-horowitz-and-hillbillies-dies-at-94.html?_r=0|work=The New York Times|title=Michael Dann, TV Programmer Who Scheduled Horowitz and Hillbillies, Dies at 94|last=Grimes|first=William|date=May 30, 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160604142928/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/31/business/media/michael-dann-tv-programmer-who-scheduled-horowitz-and-hillbillies-dies-at-94.html?_r=0|archive-date=June 4, 2016}} She has one brother, Jonathan, and a sister, Priscilla. Dann was raised in Chappaqua, New York.{{cite web|work=The Baltimore Sun|location=Baltimore, Maryland|title=There's a bittersweet love story behind author Patty Dann's sequel to 'Mermaids'|date=March 4, 2014|last=Hudson|first=Kathy|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/baltimore-city/ph-ms-hudsons-corner-0306-20140304-story.html|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200109104833/https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/baltimore-city/ph-ms-hudsons-corner-0306-20140304-story.html|archive-date=January 9, 2020}}

After graduating high school, Dann enrolled at Bennington College, but left after her freshman year, transferring to the University of Oregon, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in art history.{{cite web |title=The Wright Sister |url=https://around.uoregon.edu/content/wright-sister |website=Around the O |date=8 August 2020 |publisher=University of Oregon |access-date=21 November 2022}} While attending the University of Oregon, she studied under writer Ralph Salisbury, whom she later cited as a major influence on her writing. She subsequently earned an MFA in writing at Columbia University,{{cite web |title=Alumni Newsletter |url=https://arts.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/content/PDFs/Alumni%20Newsletters/november_2020_alumni_newsletter.pdf |website=Columbia University School of the Arts |access-date=21 November 2022}} where she submitted an early draft of Mermaids, a coming-of-age novel about a teenage girl in the 1960s, as her master's thesis.

Dann has published four novels: The Wright Sister (a historical novel about the Wright Brothers' sister Katharine Wright), Mermaids, Starfish, and Sweet & Crazy. Her work has been translated into French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Chinese, Korean and Japanese.

Mermaids was made into a movie, starring Cher, Winona Ryder and Christina Ricci. The Butterfly Hours was chosen as one of the "Best Books for Writers" by Poets & Writers Magazine. The Goldfish Went on Vacation: A Memoir of Loss received a Foreword Indie Gold Award for Family & Relationships.

Dann's articles have appeared in The New York Times, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer, Christian Science Monitor, O Magazine, Oregon Quarterly, Redbook, More, Forbes Woman, Poets & Writers Magazine, The Writers' Handbook Dirt: The Quirks, Habits and Passions of Keeping House, and This I Believe: On Motherhood.

She has taught at the Fairfield County Writers' Studio{{cite web |title=Patty Dann |url=https://fcwritersstudio.com/staff/patty-dann/ |website=Faculty |publisher=Fairfield County Writers' Studio |access-date=21 November 2022}} and the West Side YMCA in NYC.{{cite news |last1=Crow |first1=Kelly |title=NEIGHBORHOOD REPORT: UPPER WEST SIDE; Writers Are Halted Mid-Sentence as a Y Cancels Classes |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/13/nyregion/neighborhood-report-upper-west-side-writers-are-halted-mid-sentence-y-cancels.html |access-date=21 November 2022 |work=New York Times |date=May 13, 2001}}

Dann is married to journalist Michael Hill,{{cite news |title=Patty Dann, Michael Hill |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/fashion/weddings/13DANN.html |access-date=21 November 2022 |work=New York Times |date=July 13, 2008}} and has one son and two stepsons.{{cite news |last1=Dann |first1=Patty |title=A mother discovers she may be related to her adopted son |url=http://www0.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2018/05/11/mother-may-related-her-adopted-son/sxwODYxaW8KtaxxPWeXCrJ/story.html |access-date=21 November 2022 |publisher=The Boston Globe |date=May 11, 2018}}

Bibliography

=Fiction=

Mermaids (1986), Ticknor and Fields
Sweet & Crazy (2008), St. Martin's Press
Starfish (2013), Greenpoint Press{{cite web|url=https://www.pifmagazine.com/2013/10/patty-dann/|work=PIF Magazine|title=Patty Dann Interview|last=Alger|first=Derek|date=October 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200109093627/https://www.pifmagazine.com/2013/10/patty-dann/|archive-date=January 9, 2020}}
The Wright Sister: A Novel (2020), Harper Perennial{{cite web|url=https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-wright-sister-patty-dann?variant=32130627043362/|title=The Wright Sister: A Novel by Patty Dann}}