Susan Shapiro

Susan Shapiro, a Manhattan journalism professor, has written for the New York Times, Washington Post, L.A. Times, Newsweek, Salon.com, Daily Beast, The Forward, Village Voice, People, More, Glamour, and Cosmopolitan. She's co-editor of Food for the Soul and author of the nonfiction books Only as Good as Your Word, Lighting Up, Secrets of a Fix-Up Fanatic and Five Men Who Broke My Heart, which was optioned for a feature film. She recently sold two novels, Overexposed and Speed Shrinking. Sue lives with her husband, a TV/film writer, in Greenwich Village, where she teaches her own "instant gratification takes too long" writing method at the New School, NYU and in private workshops and seminars. She can be reached directly at ProfSue123@aol.com.

The Shrinks are Away (NYTimes)

San Francisco Chronicle

Publishers Weekly

Cover story BarnesAndNoble.com

Read an excerpt at Forward.com

Chickliterati at Frisky.com

Book Mitzvah article

Profile and Q&A in The Resident

Instead of a "Freaky Friday" mother-daughter switch, Shapiro has a pair of BFF's trade places. Manhattan photographer Rachel Solomon wants nothing more to leave her Midwestern Jewish roots behind. But her friend and mentor, WASP-Y Elizabeth Mann, marries Rachel's doctor brother, moves to the Midwest and ingratiates herself in the life Rachel left behind - and Solomon must decide if she can really let go.
Billy Heller, NY Post Required Reading

The grass may be greener on the other side of the fence, but the black leather-wearing black sheep of a boisterous Midwestern Jewish clan never figured her best friend would actually leap into her backyard. Photographer Rachel happily trades her suburban Chicago roots for the boho life in New York City, and though she longs to revel in the edgy art world where her idol, Elizabeth--daughter of a famed Life photographer--was raised, Elizabeth can't shed the trappings fast enough for the "normal" life Rachel shuns. The gimmick is clever, but...there's more to this hip tale of yearning than her transformation, and Shapiro champions the small asides, the stubborn secrets, and the unconditional affection of a big, complicated family to forge a connection with readers.
Publishers Weekly

Even heavier on the family drama, but with a light touch: Susan Shapiro's Overexposed (St. Martin's, August) features a photographer (she "thinks she's the next Diane Arbus") who has happily escaped her nebbishy Midwestern family ("I don't belong here," she told her mother as a child) for Manhattan. The twist: Her WASP mentor marries her younger brother and transforms herself into the sweet Jewish daughter (or "JAP wannabe") that the narrator's parents always desired.
Josh Lambert, Tablet Magazine

Rachel Solomon is ecstatic to escape her Midwest Jewish family for bohemian New York City, chasing her dream of becoming a photographer. Her job at a magazine becomes complicated when she meets the person she's replacing. Elizabeth Mann is the WASPY daughter of Rachel's favorite photographer and appears to have everything that Rachel desires: an upcoming photography show, famous family friends...and no Jewish mother who pressures her to become a doctor like Rachel's father and two brothers...Shapiro expertly captures the elusive aspects of family, friendship, and love in this winning dramedy.
Patty Engelmann, Booklist

I've just finished reading Overexposed -- could hardly put it down -- and find it lively, engrossing, and well-written. Delightful. A roman-a-clef. I'm drawn to the relationship between Ricky and Elizabeth, their attachment believable because it is so real, the ambivalences making it all the more credible. A fine book.
Grace Schulman, author of "First Loves & Other Adventures"

Shapiro's genius is that she draws characters...so compelling that the reader has no choice but to engage with great hopes for the transformation. Once hooked, it's a hop, skip and a handstand to tryouts for Shapiro's cheering squad...I end up rooting myself hoarse for Shapiro's neurotics...every page as densely packed with humor as a mouthful of Ben & Jerry's is with chunks.
Meredith Maran, San Francisco Chronicle