Molly Brodak (March 29, 1980 – March 8, 2020) was an American poet, writer, and baker. She was the author of the poetry collection ''A Little Middle of the Night'' (

University of Iowa Press The University of Iowa Press is a university press that is part of the University of Iowa. Established in 1969, thUniversity of Iowa Pressis an academic publisher of poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction. The UI Press is the only universit ...

, 2010) and the memoir ''Bandit'' (

Grove Press Grove Press is an United States of America, American Imprint (trade name), publishing imprint that was founded in 1947. Imprints include: Black Cat, Evergreen, Venus Library, and Zebra. Barney Rosset purchased the company in 1951 and turned it in ...

, 2016). ''The Atlanta Journal and Constitution'' described ''Bandit'' as: "a book about stories and character, of how events and actions shape who we are, how a father becomes one person, how a daughter grows up to be another." ''The New York Times'' called ''Bandit'' "a good book, and with good reason," while Kirkus called it: "an intelligent, disturbing, and profoundly honest memoir."

Career

In a feature on NPR's ''All Things Considered'', Brodak described the ethical process of Bandit's subject, which detailed her experience as the daughter of a multiple felon bankrobber in Detroit, Michigan: "Every family has darkness and heaviness that people would prefer to not talk about. And when you choose to become the person who's going to bring light to the dark family secrets, you can sometimes be perceived as the betrayer.''"'' An excerpt from ''Bandit'' appeared in ''Best American Nonrequired Reading 2016''. In 2018, she was a recipient of an NEA fellowship for prose. Brodak's poems appeared widely, including in ''Granta'', ''Poetry'', ''Fence'', ''Map Literary'', ''NY Tyrant'', ''Diode'', ''New Orleans Review'', ''Ninth Letter'', ''Colorado Review'', ''Bateau'', and ''Hayden's Ferry Review.'' Her poem ''Jesus'' inspired the song ''I WHO BEND THE TALL GRASSES'' by

Lingua Ignota (musician) Kristin Hayter (born June 17, 1986), known professionally as Lingua Ignota ( Latin for "unknown language"), is an American classically trained multi-instrumentalist. She draws on her experiences as a survivor of domestic violence for musical and ...

. Her collection, ''The Cipher'', won the 2019 Pleiades Press Editors Prize, and was published in 2020. Brodak was also the founder of Kookie House, a baking company that specializes in unique cookies and cakes. In 2017, she appeared as a finalist on the '' Great American Baking Show''.

Death

Brodak died on March 8, 2020. According to 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 d ...

'', her husband,

Blake Butler John David Blake Butler (22 October 1924 – 15 April 1981) was an English actor best known for his role as the lecherous chief librarian Mr. Wainwright during the first and third series of ''Last of the Summer Wine'' in 1973 and 1976 res ...

, gave the cause of death as suicide and she had struggled with depression since childhood.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brodak, Molly 1980 births American bakers 21st-century American memoirists American women memoirists American women company founders American company founders American women poets Businesspeople from Detroit Poets from Michigan Suicides in Georgia (U.S. state) Writers from Detroit 21st-century American businesswomen Place of death missing Place of birth missing 21st-century American businesspeople 21st-century American poets 21st-century American women writers 2020 suicides 2020 deaths Memoirists from Michigan