Melissa Broder is an author, essayist and poet. Her work includes novels ''The Pisces'' (

Penguin Random House Penguin Random House LLC is an Anglo-American multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, from the merger of Penguin Group and Random House. On April 2, 2020, Bertels ...

2018) and ''Milk Fed''
Simon and Schuster
2021), the poetry collection ''Last Sext'' (

Tin House ''Tin House'' is an American book publisher based in Portland, Oregon, and New York City. Portland publisher Win McCormack originally conceived the idea for a literary magazine called ''Tin House'' in the summer of 1998. He enlisted Holly MacArt ...

2016), and essay collection ''So Sad Today'' ( Grand Central 2016), as well as the popular Twitter feed also titled So Sad Today, on which the book is based. Broder has written for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', ''Elle'', ''Vice'', ''

Vogue Italia ''Vogue Italia'' is the Italian edition of ''Vogue'' magazine. Owned by Condé Nast International, it has been called the top fashion magazine in the world. It's been in publication since 1964. Name ''Vogue Italia'' was first published as ''N ...

'', and ''New York'' magazine‘s ''The Cut''.

Early life

Broder grew up in

Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania Bryn Mawr, pronounced , from Welsh for big hill, is a census-designated place (CDP) located across three townships: Radnor Township and Haverford Township in Delaware County, and Lower Merion Township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It i ...

with her younger sister Hayley. Her father Bob was a tax lawyer and her mother owned a stationery store. She attended the

Baldwin School The Baldwin School (simply referred to as Baldwin School or Baldwin) is a private school for girls in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded in 1888 by Florence Baldwin. The school occupies a 19th-century resort hotel designed by ...

and became interested in poetry early, writing her first collection in third grade. Broder attended

Tufts University Tufts University is a private research university on the border of Medford and Somerville, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1852 as Tufts College by Christian universalists who sought to provide a nonsectarian institution of higher learning. ...

where she edited the literary magazine ''Queen's Head and Artichoke''. She graduated in 2001 with a degree in English and then moved to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, where she worked odd jobs before she relocated to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

at 25. There she worked as a publicist for

Penguin Books Penguin Books is a British publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers The Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the following year.City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

, earning an MFA in poetry. Broder has been clean and sober since age 25.

Career

Poetry

Broder has published five collections of poetry, including ''Superdoom'' (August 2021). Broder won a

Pushcart Prize The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are ...

for the poem "Forgotten Sound" included in her collection ''Last Sext.''

Twitter

Broder began tweeting anonymously from her So Sad Today Twitter account in 2012. She began her ''So Sad Today'' column for ''Vice'' in December 2014. She revealed herself as the account's author in a ''Rolling Stone'' interview in May 2015. As of February 2021, the So Sad Today profile had more than 1 million followers.

''So Sad Today''

In 2016, Broder published a collection of personal essays, ''So Sad Today'', based on her Twitter account. The collection includes some essays initially published in ''Vice'' under her So Sad Today pen name.

''The Pisces''

In 2018 Broder published the novel ''The Pisces'', which garnered praise from ''

'', ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'', ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

'', and ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

''.

''Milk Fed''

Broder published ''Milk Fed'' in 2021, a critically acclaimed novel which ''Kirkus'' described as " ld, dry, and delightfully dirty."

Other projects

Broder is adapting ''The Pisces'' for

Lionsgate Films Lionsgate Films (formerly known as Cinépix Film Properties) is an American film production and film distribution studio, headquartered in Santa Monica and founded in Canada, and is the flagship division of Lionsgate Entertainment. It is the larg ...

. She also writes the Beauty and Death column for ''

Elle ''Elle'' (stylized ''ELLE'') is a worldwide women's magazine of French origin that offers a mix of fashion and beauty content, together with culture, society and lifestyle. The title means "she" or "her" in French. ''Elle'' is considered the w ...

''. In 2020 it was announced a television show based on her novel ''Milk Fed'' was being developed. No news has emerged since then. The author records a podcast titled
eating alone in my car
' in which she openly discusses her work, daily life, obsessions, and "rants about everything from mortality to Poptarts to depression". Broder has recorded near-weekly episodes of the "show" since May 2018.

Personal life

Broder is married and lives in Los Angeles. She is a caregiver for her husband who has a progressive neuroimmune disease that leaves him bedridden for months at a time.

Bibliography

Poetry

* ''When You Say One Thing But Mean Your Mother'' (Ampersand Books, 2010) * ''Meat Heart'' (

Publishing Genius Publishing Genius is an independent publisher located in Atlanta, Georgia, originally based in Baltimore, Maryland. The press, run by Adam Robinson, has published novels, short stories and poetry since 2006, including work by Stephanie Barber, Rac ...

, 2012) * ''Scarecrone'' (Publishing Genius, 2014) * ''Last Sext'' (

, 2016) *''Superdoom: Selected Poems'' (Tin House, 2021)

Essay collection

* ''So Sad Today'' (Grand Central, 2016)

Novels

*''The Pisces'' (Penguin Random House, 2018) *''

Milk Fed Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. Immune fact ...

'' (Simon and Schuster, 2021)

References

External links

Official website

@sosadtoday
on Twitter
@melissabroder
on Twitter {{DEFAULTSORT:Broder, Melissa 21st-century American poets 21st-century American women writers American women essayists 21st-century American essayists American women poets Tufts University School of Arts and Sciences alumni City College of New York alumni People from Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania Poets from Pennsylvania Novelists from Pennsylvania American women novelists 21st-century American novelists Living people 1979 births The Baldwin School alumni