Dani Shapiro is the author of the instant New York Times best selling memoir, Inheritance, which was published in January 2019 by Knopf. Her other books include the memoirs Hourglass, Still Writing, Devotion, and Slow Motion, and five novels including Black & White and Family History.
Along with teaching writing workshops around the world, Dani has taught at Columbia and New York University, and is the cofounder of the Sirenland Writers Conference in Positano, Italy.
In February of 2019, Dani launched an original podcast, Family Secrets, in collaboration with iHeartMedia. An iTunes Top 10 podcast, the series features stories from guests who—like Dani— have uncovered life-altering and long-hidden secrets from their families’ past.
She lives with her family in Litchfield County, Connecticut.
Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love
What makes us who we are? What combination of memory, history, biology, experience, and that ineffable thing called the soul defines us?
In the spring of 2016, through a genealogy website to which she had whimsically submitted her DNA for analysis, Dani Shapiro received the stunning news that her father was not her biological father. She woke up one morning and her entire history–the life she had lived–crumbled beneath her.
Inheritance is a book about secrets–secrets within families, kept out of shame or self-protectiveness; secrets we keep from one another in the name of love. It is the story of a woman’s urgent quest to unlock the story of her own identity, a story that has been scrupulously hidden from her for more than fifty years, years she had spent writing brilliantly, and compulsively, on themes of identity and family history. It is a book about the extraordinary moment we live in–a moment in which science and technology have outpaced not only medical ethics but also the capacities of the human heart to contend with the consequences of what we discover.
Upcoming Appearances
Wednesday, November 18, 2020
Virtual Event
Hadassah Magazine: Genealogy Discussion at 8:00 PM
Hadassah Magazine Discussion Group presents: How Genealogy Became the Great Jewish Pastime, with Executive Editor Lisa Hostein, featuring Dani Shapiro, Jennifer Mendelsohn and Libby Copeland.
Tuesday, December 1, 2020
Virtual Event
Sydney Jewish Writers Festival at 10:00 AEST
Note: this event will be held on 12/1/2020 at 10:00am AUS-EST which correlates with 11/30/2020 at 6:00pm US-EST
Wednesday, December 9, 2020
Virtual Event
Literary Legends Homecoming Festival, Fundraiser for KGB Bar at 7:00 PM
KGB Bar Lit Series former readers read their acclaimed & current work to raise funds to keep landmark KGB Bar alive post pandemic and beyond. Other readers include Billy Collins and George Green.
Dani’s second podcast in collaboration with iHeart Media has launched; The Way We Live Now examines the way people from all walks of life are coping during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The paperback edition of Inheritance is an LA Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, and San Francisco Chronicle, and National Indie bestseller!
Inheritance has won the 2019 National Jewish Book Award!
Wired Magazine names Inheritance as one of 2019’s top Science books!
Inheritance named a best book of 2019 by Vanity Fair!
Inheritance will be adapted for film by Killer Films!
The New Yorker includes Inheritance in their summer reading round up!
The Today Show features Inheritance in their “20 Beach Reads You Won’t Want to Put Down” segment.
Inheritance debuted on The New York Times Best Seller List at #11!
Daunt Books in the UK has won an auction to publish Inheritance!
Dani’s new podcast, “Family Secrets” launches on February 14th. Subscribe now!
Dani’s new memoir, Inheritance, is available.
Thanks to everyone who watched Dani on Super Soul Sunday
Family Secrets
Dani’s new podcast, “Family Secrets” launched into the top 10 of all podcasts on Apple!
