“The Happy Ending Series is the liveliest, most interesting cultural program of its kind in NYC.” -Zoe Heller
2018 AUTHORS
ALEXANDER CHEE is the author of the novels Edinburgh and The Queen of the Night, and the essay collection How To Write An Autobiographical Novel. He is a contributing editor at The New Republic, and an editor at large at VQR. His essays and stories have appeared in The New York Times Book Review, T Magazine, Tin House, Slate, Guernica, and Out, among others. He is winner of a 2003 Whiting Award, a 2004 NEA Fellowship in prose and a 2010 MCCA Fellowship, and residency fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, the VCCA, Civitella Ranieri. He is an associate professor of English and Creative Writing at Dartmouth College
LESLIE JAMISON is the author of the essay collection The Empathy Exams, a New York Times bestseller, and the novel The Gin Closet, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Her work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, and the Oxford American, among others, and she is a columnist for the New York Times Book Review. She teaches at Columbia University and lives in Brooklyn with her family.
AMANDA STERN was born in New York City and raised in Greenwich Village. She’s the author of The Long Haul and eleven books for children written under the pseudonyms Fiona Rosenbloom and AJ Stern. In 2003, she founded the Happy Ending Music and Reading Series, a long-running and beloved event that became an essential part of the New York City literary landscape. Her memoir, LITTLE PANIC is forthcoming from Grand Central on June 19th, 2018. She lives in Brooklyn with her dog, Busy.
2016 AUTHORS
COLSON WHITEHEAD is the New York Times bestselling author of six novels and two books of non-fiction, including Sag Harbor, Zone One, and The Colossus of New York. His latest novel, The Underground Railroad, will be published next fall. A Pulitzer Prize finalist, and a recipient of Guggenheim and MacArthur Fellowships, he lives in New York City. (photo by: Madeline Whitehead)
2015 AUTHORS
CATHERINE LACEY‘s first novel, Nobody Is Ever Missing, was a finalist for the NYPL’s Young Lions Fiction Award and is being translated into Italian, German, Spanish, French and Dutch. Her second novel and first short story collection are forthcoming from Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
ALEXANDRA KLEEMAN was raised in Boulder, Colorado, and lives at the North Shore of Staten Island. Her work has been published in The Paris Review, Zoetrope, Harper’s, n+1, and The Guardian. She is the author of the novel You Too Can Have A Body Like Mine and the winner of the 2016 Bard Fiction Prize.
VIVIAN GORNICK is the bestselling author of the acclaimed memoirs The Odd Woman and the City and Fierce Attachments, as well as a biography of Emma Goldman and three essay collections: The Men in My Life, Approaching Eye Level, and The End of the Novel of Love, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.
2014 AUTHORS
ANDREW SOLOMON is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at Columbia University and the author of The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression, winner of the National Book Award, and Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Wellcome Prize, and more than thirty other prizes. His TED talks have been viewed more than eight million times. He is the president of PEN American Center. He lives in New York and London with his husband and son.
AMY ROSS has been seeing patients for over 20 years and has a full-time private practice in Manhattan. She got her PH.D. from Adelphi University and completed her internship at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital. She believes deeply in the power of good therapy to change one’s relationship with one’s self and the outside world. It allows people to live richer, fuller, more grounded lives. She also thinks that good therapy is risky: painful, hard work, time consuming, expensive, unsettling—and worth it.
LENA DUNHAM is the creator of the critically acclaimed HBO series Girls, for which she also serves as executive producer, writer, and director. She has been nominated for eight Emmy awards and has won two Golden Globes, including Best Actress, for her work on Girls. She was the first woman to win the Director’s Guild of America award for directorial achievement in comedy. Dunham has also written and directed two feature-length films (including Tiny Furniture in 2010) and is a frequent contributor to The New Yorker. She lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
MATTHEW THOMAS was born in the Bronx and grew up in Queens. A graduate of the University of Chicago, he has an MA from the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University and an MFA from the University of California, Irvine. His New York Times bestselling first novel We Are NotOurselves has been shortlisted for the Center for Fiction’s Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize and longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award. He lives with his wife and twin children in New Jersey.
Photo: Beowulf Sheehan
ZADIE SMITH was born in north-west London in 1975 and divides her time between London and New York. Her first novel, WHITE TEETH, was the winner of The Whitbread First Novel Award, The Guardian First Book Award, The James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction, and The Commonwealth Writers’ First Book Award. Her second novel, THE AUTOGRAPH MAN, won The Jewish Quarterly Wingate Literary Prize. Zadie Smith’s third novel, ON BEAUTY, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, won The Commonwealth Writers’ Best Book Award (Eurasia Section), and the Orange Prize for Fiction. Her most recent novel, NW, was published in 2012 and has been shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize and the Women’s Prize for Fiction.
Photo: Dominique Nabokov
LESLIE JAMISON is the author of The Empathy Exams, an essay collection, and a novel, The Gin Closet. Her work has appeared in Harper’s, Oxford American, A Public Space, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Believer, and the New York Times,where she is a regular columnist for the Sunday Book Review. She was raised in Los Angeles and currently lives in Brooklyn.
Photo: Colleen Kinder
Between 9/03/2003 and 11/21/2012, the following authors, speakers and performers participated in the Happy Ending Series: Photos and bios for past performers will be added slowly over the course of my life.
A.M. Homes
Aaron Hamburger
Aaron Landsman
Ada Calhoun
Adam Haslett
Adam Rapp
Adam Wilson
Aimee Bender
Alec Appelbaum
Alec Bemis
Alex Shakar
Alice Elliot Dark
Alicia Erian
Alison Bechdel
Alison Smith
Alix Ohlin
Alix Strauss
Allen Salkin
Allison Amend
Amelia Gray
Ammon Shea
Amor Towles
Amy Cohen
Amy Fusselman
Amy Hempel
Amy Koppelman
Amy Krouse Rosenthal
Amy Sohn
Andre Dubus III
Andrew Altschul
Andrew Lewis Conn
Andrew Sean Greer
Andrew Solomon
Andy Borowitz
Andy Friedman
Angela Pneuman
Anna Schuleit
Anne Landesman
Anthony Schneider
Anthony Swofford
Antoine Wilson
Arthur Bradford
Arthur Nersersian
Arthur Phillips
Aryn Kyle
Audrey Niffenegger
Baz Dreisinger
Bee Lavender
Ben Gantcher
Ben Greenman
Ben Markovits
Ben Schrank
Benjamin Anastas
Benjamin Kunkel
Benjamin Percy
Beth Bosworth
Beth Kimmerle
Beth Lisick
Binnie Kirshenbaum
Blake Nelson
Bliss Broyard
Bob Dunn
Bob Hicok
Bonnie Downing
Brad Land
Brandon Stosuy
Brett Berk
Brian Evenson
Brian Selznick
Brock Clarke
Brooks Hansen
Bruce Bauman
Bryan Charles
Carl Wilson
Caroline Leavitt
Carolita Johnson
Cat Tyc
Cate Marvin
Cecile Guilbert
Chad Allen
Charles Bock
Cheryl Sucher
Chip Kidd
Chip McGrath
Chris Adrian
Chris Leo
Christine Hamm
Christine Schutt
Christopher R. Weingarten
Cintra Wilson
Clifford Chase
Coleman Hough
Colson Whitehead
Colum McCann
Craig Clevenger
Craig Morgan Teicher
Cris Beam
Cristy Road
Cynthia Kaplan
Dan Kennedy
Dan Kois
Dan Menaker
Dan Rollman
Daniel Nester
Daniel Robert Epstein
Danielle Trussoni
Danzy Senna
Daphne Beal
Daphne Carr
Daphne Gottlieb
Daphne Merkin
Darcey Steinke
Darin Strauss
Dave King
David Amsden
David Bezmozgis
David Cross
David Evanier
David Gates
David Gutcheon
David Lehman
David Means
David Miller
David Mizner
David Orr
David Rakoff
David Rees
David Shields
Dawn Raffel
Dean Bakopolous
Deb Olin Unferth
Derek McCormack
Diane Williams
Dmitri Erhlich
Doug Trevor
Drew Dernavich
Ed Park
Edwina White
Eileen Myles
Elissa Shappell
Eliza Griswold
Elizabeth Bachner
Elizabeth Berg
Elizabeth Crane
Elizabeth Gold
Elizabeth Hand
Elizabeth Streb
Elizabeth Swados
Ellen Litman
Ellis Avery
Emily Raboteau
Emily XYZ
Emma Straub
Erin Cressida Wilson
Etgar Keret
Evan Smith Rakoff
Fernanda Eberstadt
Fiona Maazel
Fran Giuffre
Gary Lutz
Gary Phillips
Geeta Dayal
GF Michelsen
Gregory Maguire
Jon Benjamin (from Comedy Central’s Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist)
Hal Niedziecki
Hal Sirowitz
Hannah Pittard
Hannah Tinti
Hari Kunzru
Heather McGowan
Heidi Julavits
Helen Benedict
Helen Schulman
Holiday Reinhorn
Honor Moore
Ian Chillag
Ian Chorao
Irini Spanidou
Jack Livings
Jack Pendarvis
Jackie Corley
James Richardson
James Salter
Jane Avrich
Janice Erlbaum
Jayne Anne Phillips
Jean Nathan
Jean Thompson
Jeff Giles
Jeff Johnson
Jeff Sharlet
Jeff Tamarkin
Jen Trynin
Jennifer Banash
Jennifer Bleyer
Jennifer Egan
Jerry Williams
Jervey Tervalon
Jess Row
Jesse Ball
Jesse Browner
Jessica Anthony
Jessica Hagedorn
Jessy Randall
Jill Bauerle
Jim Shepard
Jim Shepherd
Joan Wickersham
Joanna Hershon
Joanna Smith Rakoff
Joe Meno
John Cameron Mitchell
John Lurie
John Marks
John Rowell
John S Hall
John Wray
Jon-Jon Goulian
Jonathan Ames
Jonathan Baumbach
Jonathan Caouette
Jonathan Dee
Jonathan Katz (from Comedy Central’s Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist)
Jonathan Moskowitz
Jonathan Scott Fuqua
Jonathon Keats (Conceptual artist)
Jono Mischcott
Joshua Ferris
Joshua Furst
Joshua Henkin
Joyelle McSweeney
Julia Holmes
Julia Slavin
Julian Rubinstein
Julie Hilden
Julie Orringer
Karen Russell
Kate Braverman
Kate Christensen
Keith Lee Morris
Kelly Braffett
Kelly Kerney
Ken Foster
Kevin Canty
Kevin Moffett
Kevin Sampsell
Kevin Wilson
Kristen den Hartog
Kyle DeCamp
Kyle Smith
Lara Tupper
Laura Dave
Lauren Grodstein
Lauren Groff
Lauren Sanders
Laurie Anderson
Laurie Sandell
Lawrence Weschler
Leanne Shapton
Lee Gutkind
Leelila Strogov
Lillian Ann Slugocki
Lillian Slugocki
Linda Robertson
Lisa Glatt
Lisa Hamilton
Lisa Lerner
Lisa Randall
Lisa Selin Davis
Liza Donnelly
Lorin Stein
Lowell Handler
Lucy Corin
Lydia Davis
Lydia Millet
Lynne Tillman
David Hornbuckle
Maggie Cutler
Maggie Dubris
Maggie Estep
Maggie Nelson
Manil Suri
Marc Nesbitt
Marcellus Hall
Marcy Dermansky
Margot Livesey
Marie-Helene Bertino
Marion Winik
Marisa Silver
Mark Dow
Mark Swartz
Marleen Barr
Martha Garvey
Martha Southgate
Marty McConnell
Mary Caponegro
Mary Gaitskill
Mary-Beth Hughes
Matt Derby
Matt Marinovich
Matthew Bakkom
Matthew Freedman
Matthew Sharpe
Maxine Swann
Meg Wolitzer
Melissa Febos
Merrill Feitell
Michael Cunningham
Michael Fitzgerald
Michael Perry
Michelle Herman
Michelle Orange
Michelle Tea
Michelle Wildgen
Mike Albo
Mike Daisey
Mila Drumke
Miles Marshall Lewis
Min Jin Lee
Molly Jong-Fast
Molly Ringwald
Myla Goldberg
Nami Mun
Nanette Lerner
Nathaniel Rich
Neal Medlyn
Neal Pollack
Ned Vizzini
Neil Swaab
Nell Freudenberger
Nelly Reifler
Nic Kelman
Nick Antosca
Nick Bertozzi
Nick Flynn
Nick Fowler
Nick Laird
Nicky Dawidoff
Nicole Blackman
Noy Holland
Orlando Lima
Owen King
Owen Sheers
Padgett Powell
Pagan Kennedy
Panio Gianopolous
Patrick Somerville
Paul Harding
Paul La Farge
Paul Muldoon
Paul Rudnick
Pauls Toutonghi
Peter Behrens
Peter Cameron
Peter Hyman
Peter Rock
Phil Campbell
Piz Z Ehrhardt
Porochista Khakpour
Porter Shreve
Priscilla Becker
Rachel Cohen
Rafi Zabor
Rajesh Parameswaran
Rakesh Satyal
Rattawut Lapcharoensap
Rebecca Curtis
Rebecca Godfrey
Rebecca Walker
Rebecca Wolff
Rene Steinke
Rich Benjamin
Richard Eoin Nash
Richard Price
Rick Moody
Rick Whitaker
Rivka Galchen
Rob Sheffield
Robert Lopez
Robert Marshall
Roland Kelts
Ron Carlson
Roxana Robinson
Roy Kesey
Ruth Ellen Kocher
Ryan Boudinot
Ryan Harty
Sabrina Gschwandtner
Sadia Shepard
Said Sayrafiezadeh
Salvatore Scibona
Sam Lipsyte
Sam Michel
Sam Munson
Samantha Gillison
Samantha Hunt
Sana Krasikov
Sarah Braunstein
Sarah Grace McCandles
Sarah Jones
Sarah Manguso
Sarah Schulman
Scot Crawford
Scott Snyder
Scott Spencer
Sean Wilsey
Seth Fried
Shane Jones
Sheila Heti
Shelley Jackson
Sheri Joseph
Siddhartha Deb
Sigrid Nunez
Sloane Crosley
Stacy D’Erasmo
Stefan Merrill Block
Stephen Clair
Stephen Elliott
Stephen Glass
Stephen Policoff
Steve Almond
Steve Toltz
Steven Berlin Johnson
Sunshine O’ Donnel
Susan Wheeler
Susannah Breslin
Suzanne Bocanegra
Suzanne Dottino
Tanguy Viel
Tara Bray Smith
Tara Wray
Tea Obreht
Teddy Wayne
Terese Svoboda
Terry Iacuzzo
Thaddeus Rutkowski
Thisbe Nissen
Thomas Beller
Thomas Hopkins
Tim McLoughlin
Tod Wodicka
Todd Barry (from Comedy Central’s Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist)
Todd J Colby
Tom Bissell
Tom Lombardi
Tom Perrotta
Tony Fletcher
Toure
Trinie Dalton
Tsia Carson
Vanessa Veselka
Victor Lodato
Victoria Redel
Victoria Vinton
Vince Passaro
Walter Kirn
Wayne Koestenbaum
Wells Tower
Wendy Shanker
Wendy Spero
Wenlan Chia
Wesley Stace
Will Allison
Will Noonan
William Benton
Yannick Murphy
Yiyun Li
Zadie Smith
Zoe Heller
