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Joanna Rakoff

@joannarakoff

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My Salinger Year & A Fortunate Age
Books I love, writing, & a literary life
Margaret Qualley played me in the movie

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

It’s been exciting (and a little scary!) sharing early copies of my book with fellow authors (whose books I LOVED), and an utter thrill when they say nice things about it! I’m thanking those authors in typical Gina Hamadey fashion: with a sincere thank you note. (Did you know? I wrote a book about my year mailing 365 of them.)

Look and you will see I have terrible handwriting! We are all out of practice and have bad handwriting; please don’t let it stop you from writing that note. (This is my most FAQ about sending heartfelt thank you notes.)

My Friend’s Best Wedding (Dutton, June 2027) follows a woman who realizes she’s in love with her childhood best friend just as she’s helping him to plan his last-minute wedding to her high school bully. As feelings emerge, a decision is made: She’s going to stop this wedding.

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Read this scintillating interview in its entirety on www.bookclique.org and thank you to the delightful @acsinga for setting it up! Link in bio🌵❤️🔥

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A few tickets remain for our very special 25th Write Workshop at Doe Bay Resort on Orcas Island in Washington, November 11-15, 2026. Fiction. Memoir. Poetry. Songwriting. Concert. Literary Circle. Dance Party. & more! writedoebay.com

🖼️: @kathryn__hollis

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You should go follow them all! And tell me - who’s your favorite source for book recs on this app? Tag them so we can all collect the best sources for great books!

@joannarakoff @herrealtake @nadezhfrank @natashapoliszczuk @carolynmariereads + Hillary Louise Kelly

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I’m sitting in the First Parish in Cambridge, waiting for Min Jin Lee to begin her conversation with Ilyon Woo — two of my favorite people, two of my favorite writers.

The event is running a little late, only because they’re trying to seat 600 people inside the church!

— And now we begin —

Big laughs from the audience when Ilyon says, “I’ve been waiting for you!”

Anyway! Here’s my second drink for American Hagwon. The first was no-torque (but plenty tasty!) This one *has* a little torque. I was going to use either Soju or Makgeolli, and then Ilyon Woo requested Soju. How could I refuse?

I mentioned last time that Min gave me so many ingredients inside her novel. This drink is simpler than the first, but, I believe, just as tasty.

You really *really* need to get a copy of American Hagwon, mix yourself one of these drinks, then read and sip.

American Hagwon Strawberry Sour:

2 oz soju
.75 oz fresh lemon juice
.75 oz strawberry syrup
.5 oz egg white
tiny pinch of salt
Smoke, for rinsing the glass
Strawberry shaving, for garnish

Postscript! First, the discussion tonight is amazing. It’s heartfelt, heartbreaking, funny and so very wise. Thank you, Min Jin Lee. Thank you, Ilyon Woo.

And, I love how small the book world is. I grabbed a seat in the very back, against the wall. Wine colored velour cushions are on those back white pews, and my seat mate? The absolutely fabulous J. Courtney Sullivan! And then Audrey, from Belmont Books, tells me to stay on the lookout for Joanna Rakoff. And I spot Joanna a few minutes later, and after a hug, I wave Audrey over. I truly love our book community here. And I love American Hagwon.

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This blurb is so special to me. The incredible novelist and memoirist @joannarakoff read my first book, I Want to Thank You, and reached out as a fan with such kindness and generosity, and a friendship was born. But would she like my debut novel?? Thank goodness she did! If you haven’t read Joanna’s books please do yourself a favor, stat. (My Salinger Year is great on audio as well!) JOANNA, I ADORE YOU! THANK YOU FOR THIS!

My Friend’s Best Wedding (Dutton, June 2027) follows a woman who realizes she’s in love with her childhood best friend just as she’s helping him to plan his last-minute wedding to her high school bully. As feelings emerge, a decision is made: She’s going to stop this wedding.

My Friend’s Best Wedding (Dutton, June 2027) follows a woman who realizes she’s in love with her childhood best friend just as she’s helping him to plan his last-minute wedding to her high school bully. As feelings emerge, a decision is made: She’s going to stop this wedding.

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Palm Beach. Boca. Santa Monica. Houston. Please go see the reprisal of the play adaptation on On Being Jewish Now produced by @thebraidstories!

Note: all profits of the book go to @theartistsagainstantisemitism.

Performances will be on October 7, 8, 10 and November 14. Essays by the following authors are adapted:

@kerblank
@jeanneblasbergauthor
@sharonbrous
@markfeuerstein
@mrgarelick
@thishammer
@brendajanowitzwriter
@kaufmandavidnyc
@joannarakoff
@rebeccaraphael
@courtneysheinmel
@lamommagazine
@elizlsilver
- and me.

Tell your friends. Share with your communities. Fill the rooms. It’s something we can do.

All ticket info: onbeingjewishnow.substack.com and in stories here and in link in my bio.

#onbeingjewishnow

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On this rainy day, I offer a summer outtake, titled "Two Literary Geniuses, a Dog, and Me on a Boston Roofdeck Belonging to Two Other Literary Geniuses Both Named Alex"

@joannarakoff @missjenniferhaigh @josh.barkan.writer @alexgeorge @alexsocarides @prof.henryhiggins

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What do our clothes, our homes, our marriages and our manners reveal about us when we are not paying attention?

Pulitzer Prize winner Alison Lurie made a career of noticing.

Brilliantly funny and unsparing about class, marriage, ambition, fashion, childhood and the complicated ways people behave, Lurie wrote novels and criticism that exposed the hidden rules of everyday life and what happens when we break them.

To celebrate her 100th birthday, acclaimed authors Bruce Handy, Joanna Rakoff and Micah Perks join Cody Upton of the American Academy of Arts and Letters to revisit the writer behind Foreign Affairs, The War Between the Tates, The Language of Clothes and more, and consider why her observations still feel startlingly current.

If you like your literary conversation smart, funny and just a little wicked, this one is for you.

Join us September 15 at The 92nd Street Y, New York. Tap the link in our bio for tickets.

#92ndstreety #AlisonLurie #Books

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We are so very excited to welcome Joanna Rakoff the author of the international bestselling memoir My Salinger Year and the novel A Fortunate Age, winner of the Goldberg Prize for Fiction, the Elle Readers’ Prize, and a San Francisco Chronicle Bestseller.

Rakoff’s books have been translated into twenty languages and nominated for major prizes in The Netherlands and France. She has written frequently for The New York Times, Vogue, Marie Claire, O: The Oprah Magazine, and many other publications.
The film adaptation of My Salinger Year stars Margaret Qualley as Joanna and Sigourney Weaver as her boss. Directed by Oscar-nominee Philippe Falardeau, the film opened in theaters and streaming in North America on March 5, 2021 and in the UK on May 17, 2021.

Joanna will be teaching a workshop on Memoir. Write 25 is pleased to show the film adaptation of Rakoff’s memoir My Salinger Year, with a Q+A following the movie.

Join us for Write 25!
📅 November 11–15, 2026
📍 Doe Bay Resort, Orcas Island, WA
🎟️ Registration is now open @ writedoebay.com/tickets

Graphic 🖼️ by: @kathryn__hollis

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Breakfast Club starts back up on Wednesday, Sept 9!!! Give yourself an hour for YOU. LINK IN BIO.

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A while back @joannarakoff came out with a list of books she loved focused on motherhood.
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St. Ivo by @joannahershon piqued my interest. I could only find it on audio via @libby.app though. But let me tell you, Joanna Hershon is not only a masterful writer, she’s also an amazing narrator. She effortlessly brought the story to life with her voice.
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I found the timeframe for this book intriguing—a weekend. Like what could really happen in a weekend?! So much! Joanna navigated the present with the past so beautifully interjecting memories just as they were necessary.
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She also had a way with her descriptions. Sometimes one single sparse sentence provided so much context. There was a compactness to her writing that also felt comforting and expansive.
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Two couples. Old friends who have come together after years apart. One weekend. Two women who are at vastly different stages in their motherhood journey. Both trying to do the best they can under the circumstances. And a handful of random strangers made for a compelling read/listen.
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What’s the last book you read that someone recommended to you?
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#meaningfulmoment #moment #meaningfulmoments #moments #reader

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