Lea du Pont Carpenter Brokaw is an American writer and editor. Her debut novel, '' Eleven Days'' (2013), was well received by critics.

Early life and education

Carpenter grew up in

Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington ( Lenape: ''Paxahakink /'' ''Pakehakink)'' is the largest city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish settlement in North America. It lies at the confluence of the Christina ...

. She is a descendant of the French-American chemist Eleuthere Irenee du Pont. She is one of six children born to Carroll M. Carpenter and Edmund N. Carpenter II. Her father was a partner and former president of Richards, Layton and Finger, a law firm. He was also awarded a

Bronze Star The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Edmund Carpenter served in the Army Intelligence in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

. This information, revealed after his death, inspired Lea Carpenter to write her first novel. Carpenter graduated ''

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

'' from

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

with a degree in English. She received her MBA from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in June 2003.

Career

Carpenter worked in literary publishing for ten years. She was a founding editor of

Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola (; ; born April 7, 1939) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the major figures of the New Hollywood filmmaking movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Coppola is the recipient of five A ...

's literary magazine, ''Zoetrope'', and worked on

John F. Kennedy Jr. John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. (November 25, 1960 – July 16, 1999), often referred to as John-John or JFK Jr., was an American lawyer, journalist, and magazine publisher. He was a son of the 35th president of the United States, John F. Kenn ...

's ''

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

'' magazine. From 2004 to 2005, Carpenter was the deputy publisher of

The Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published works by Jack Kerouac, Philip ...

. During this time Carpenter supervised the "day-to-day financial health" of the magazine, and worked under the magazine's publisher,

Drue Heinz Drue Heinz, DBE (born Doreen Mary English; March 8, 1915 – March 30, 2018) was a British-born American actress, philanthropist, arts patron, and socialite. She was the publisher of the literary magazine ''The Paris Review'' (1993 to 2007), c ...

. Carpenter was also the managing editor of Lipper/Atlas publishers, and was the founding editor for the Penguin Lives series. As of 2013, Carpenter was employed at the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second largest public library in the United States (behind the Library of Congress ...

. She founded the Young Lions, which is a group for young adults in New York who want to contribute to the library. Since 1999, the group has raised $5 million for the library. Carpenter is on the board of directors for the Art Production Fund. The non-profit organization is dedicated to "commissioning and producing ambitious public art projects, reaching new audiences and expanding awareness through contemporary art."

Eleven Days

''Eleven Days'' tells the story of a single mother and her son. Instead of applying to Harvard, the son enters the

Naval Academy A naval academy provides education for prospective naval officers. See also * Military academy A military academy or service academy is an educational institution which prepares candidates for service in the officer corps. It normally pro ...

. Ten years later, he is reported missing from a Special Operations Forces mission on the same night as the

Osama Bin Laden Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...

raid. Carpenter began to write her novel on a dare from a friend who said: "Give me ten thousand words" by May 3, 2011. The title of the book refers to the end of ''The Iliad''. Carpenter's first novel, ''Eleven Days'', was praised by critics and writers.

Toni Morrison Chloe Anthony Wofford Morrison (born Chloe Ardelia Wofford; February 18, 1931 – August 5, 2019), known as Toni Morrison, was an American novelist. Her first novel, ''The Bluest Eye'', was published in 1970. The critically acclaimed '' So ...

commented that the book contained "elegant prose." Former Senator and Navy Seal,

Bob Kerrey Joseph Robert Kerrey (born August 27, 1943) is an American politician who served as the 35th Governor of Nebraska from 1983 to 1987 and as a United States Senator from Nebraska from 1989 to 2001. Before entering politics, he served in the Vietna ...

said the book, "showed us how 9/11 has changed our lives forever." It has also been referred to as, " ong the smartest of the batch of recent American war novels." The novel was longlisted for the Bailey's Prize for Fiction 2014.

Personal life

Lea lives in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

with her two sons.

References

External links

A Mother's War: A Q&A with Lea Carpenter, Author of ''Eleven Days''
at Vogue

at The Daily Beast

by Lea Carpenter at Huffington Post {{DEFAULTSORT:Carpenter, Lea Princeton University alumni Harvard Business School alumni Living people Year of birth missing (living people)