née
A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
Jandali; June 14, 1957) is an American novelist. She has written six novels and studied English at the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
and Languages and Literature at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
.
She won a
Whiting Award
The Whiting Award is an American award presented annually to ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and plays. The award is sponsored by the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation
Mrs. (American English) or Mrs (British English; standard E ...
for her first novel, '' Anywhere but Here'' (1986). It was a popular success and adapted as a
film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
by the same name, released in 1999. She wrote a sequel, ''The Lost Father'' (1992). Critical recognition has included the ''Chicago Tribune'' Heartland Prize and making the shortlist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for her novel ''Off Keck Road'' (2000).
She is the younger sister of the late
Apple
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...
co-founder
Steve Jobs
Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American entrepreneur, industrial designer, media proprietor, and investor. He was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple; the chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar; a ...
. She was born after her parents had married and did not meet Jobs, who was placed for adoption after he was born, until she was 25 years old.
Novels
Simpson's novels are fictional and drawn from life experiences. Her first novel, ''Anywhere But Here'' (1986), was a critical and popular success, winning a
Whiting Award
The Whiting Award is an American award presented annually to ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and plays. The award is sponsored by the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation
Mrs. (American English) or Mrs (British English; standard E ...
. In describing her intentions for the novel, Simpson stated:
I wanted to write about American mythologies, American yearnings that might be responses, delayed or exaggerated but in some way typical, to the political and social truths of our part of the world in our century. But I wrote very personally about one family. I think it takes a long time before a crisis—like AIDS—enters the culture to a point where responses exist in a character, where personal gestures are both individual and resonant in a larger way.
Natalie Portman
Natalie Portman (born Natalie Hershlag, he, נטע-לי הרשלג, ) is an Israeli-born American actress. She has had a prolific film career since her teenage years and has starred in various blockbusters and independent films, receiving mu ...
. Simpson published a sequel, ''The Lost Father'' (1992).
''A Regular Guy'' (1996) explores the strained relationship of a
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that serves as a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical areas San Mateo County ...
tycoon with a daughter born out of wedlock, whom he did not acknowledge.Lisa Brennan-Jobs, "Driving Jane" originally published in '' The Harvard Advocate,'' Spring 1999], hosted at
Lisa Brennan-Jobs
Lisa Nicole Brennan-Jobs ( Brennan; born May 17, 1978) is an American writer. She is the daughter of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and Chrisann Brennan. Jobs initially denied paternity for several years, which led to a legal case and various media ...
's official website ''Off Keck Road'' (2000), portraying decades in the lives of three women in the Midwest, was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and won the ''Chicago Tribune'' Heartland Prize.
Stacey D'Erasmo
Stacey D'Erasmo (born 1961) is an American author and literary critic.
Biography
D'Erasmo was born in 1961 in New York City. She received a B.A. from Barnard College and an M.A. from New York University in English and American literature. From 19 ...
said, "''Off Keck Road'' marks the place where origin leaves off and improvisation begins". ''My Hollywood'' was published in 2011. It explores the complex relationships, issues of class, and perspectives of two women, Claire, a European-American composer in her 30s and mother of one son, and Lola, her immigrant nanny from the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
. The nanny supports her own five children in the Philippines. The novel alternates between the voices of the two women, contrasting their worlds. Liesl Schillinger suggests that the novel is a "compassionate fictional exploration of this complicated global relationship, Simpson assesses the human cost that the child-care bargain exacts on the amah, on her employer and on the children of both".
Ron Charles says:
What really invigorates this novel, though, is the way it alternates between Claire's chapters and chapters narrated by Lola, her 50-year-old Filipino nanny. I was worried early on that Lola would be a Southeast Asian version of the Magical Negro, who exists merely to help some self-absorbed white person reach enlightenment. But she's entirely her own wonderful, troubled character, and her relationship with Claire remains complex and unresolved.
Education and teaching
Simpson was a good student as a child but was also "a clown" and "a smart aleck" who used to make jokes in class. I did get in trouble a lot when I was older and then I didn't like school so much anymore." She attended Beverly Hills High School and received a scholarship to attend
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
where she studied poetry:"I stuck with poetry as long as I could — as far as my talent would take me." After she finished her B.A. at Berkeley, she worked at a job during the days and worked as a journalist during the nights and on the weekends. She enjoyed journalism and hoped for a position with the ''Richmond Independent Gazette'' but did not receive it. She then attended graduate school at
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
and received her M.F.A from there. While a student at Columbia University, she was an editor for ''
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 ...
.''
In 1994, Simpson returned to Los Angeles area with her then-husband, Richard Appel. In 2001, Simpson started teaching creative writing at
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
; she also has an appointment at Bard College in New York state.
Personal life
Mona Jandali was born June 14, 1957, in
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Green Bay is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The county seat of Brown County, it is at the head of Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It is above sea lev ...
to an
Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
father from
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
and a Swiss-German American mother. Her mother, Joanne Carole Schieble, was born August 1, 1932, and grew up
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
on a farm in Wisconsin. Her father, Abdulfattah "John" (al-)Jandali (
Arabic
Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...
: عبد الفتاح الجندلي), was born in Homs, Syria, on March 15, 1931. He is the son of a self-made millionaire who had no higher education and a mother who was a traditional housewife. Jandali was a student activist (and spent time in jail) while an undergraduate at the
American University of Beirut
The American University of Beirut (AUB) ( ar, الجامعة الأميركية في بيروت) is a private, non-sectarian, and independent university chartered in New York with its campus in Beirut, Lebanon. AUB is governed by a private, aut ...
. Although he initially wanted to study law, he eventually decided to study economics and political science, and pursued a
Ph.D
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...
. in
Political Science
Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...
at the
University of Wisconsin
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
. It was there that he met Schieble (Jandali was Schieble's teacher although both were the same age).
Simpson notes that Schieble's parents were not happy with the relationship: "it wasn't that he was Middle-Eastern so much as that he was a
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
. But there are a lot of Arabs in Michigan and Wisconsin. So it's not that unusual."
Walter Isaacson
Walter Seff Isaacson (born May 20, 1952) is an American author, journalist, and professor. He has been the President and CEO of the Aspen Institute, a nonpartisan policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C., the chair and CEO of CNN, ...
, Steve Jobs's official biographer additionally states that Schieble's father "threatened to cut Joanne off completely" if she continued the relationship. Regardless, while Jandali and Schieble were still unmarried students at the
University of Wisconsin
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
in 1954, she became pregnant after spending the summer with him and his family in
Homs
Homs ( , , , ; ar, حِمْص / ALA-LC: ; Levantine Arabic: / ''Ḥomṣ'' ), known in pre-Islamic Syria as Emesa ( ; grc, Ἔμεσα, Émesa), is a city in western Syria and the capital of the Homs Governorate. It is Metres above sea level ...
,
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
. Given her parents' resistance to the relationship, Schieble decided to give the baby up for adoption. She traveled alone to San Francisco to work with a doctor who cared for unwed mothers and gave birth to a baby boy in 1955 (who was eventually adopted by a couple in San Francisco). He would grow up to be
Apple Inc.
Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company b ...
co-founder,
Steve Jobs
Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American entrepreneur, industrial designer, media proprietor, and investor. He was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple; the chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar; a ...
. Six months after she gave the baby up for adoption, Schieble's father died. She then wed Jandali and gave birth to Mona. It is unclear, however, why exactly Schieble kept Mona and raised her while abandoning Steve a short time earlier.
Jandali states that after finishing his Ph.D., he returned to Syria to work and that it was during this period that Schieble left him. They divorced in 1962. He also states that after the divorce, he lost contact with his daughter for a period of time: "I also bear the responsibility for being away from my daughter when she was four years old, as her mother divorced me when I went to Syria, but we got back in touch after 10 years. We lost touch again when her mother moved and I didn't know where she was, but since 10 years ago we've been in constant contact and I see her three times a year. I organized a trip for her last year to visit Syria and Lebanon and she went with a relative from Florida." A few years later, Schieble married an ice skating teacher, George Simpson. Mona Jandali took her stepfather's last name, thus becoming Mona Simpson. In 1970, after they divorced, Schieble took Mona to Los Angeles and raised her on her own.
After Jobs's adoptive mother, Clara, died of lung cancer in 1986, he met with Schieble (whom he had already found through an extensive search) for the first time. He then discovered that not only was Simpson his sister but that she also had no idea an older brother had been given up for adoption. Schieble then arranged for Jobs and Simpson to meet in New York where Simpson worked. She states that her first impression of Jobs was that "he was totally straightforward and lovely, just a normal and sweet guy." Simpson and Jobs then went for a long walk in order to get to know each other. Jobs later told his biographer that "Mona was not completely thrilled at first to have me in her life and have her mother so emotionally affectionate toward me...as we got to know each other, we became really good friends and she is my family. I don't know what I'd do without her. I can't imagine a better sister. My adopted sister, Patty, and I were never close."
Jobs told his official biographer that after meeting Simpson, he wanted to become involved in her ongoing search for their father. When Jandali was found working in Sacramento, Jobs decided that only Simpson would meet him. Jandali and Simpson spoke for several hours at which point he told her that he had left teaching to join the restaurant business. He also said that he and Schieble had given another child away for adoption but that "we'll never see that baby again. That baby's gone." Simpson did not mention that she had met Jobs, at his request. Jandali further told Simpson that he once managed a Mediterranean restaurant near San Jose and that "all of the successful technology people used to come there. Even Steve Jobs... oh yeah, he used to come in, and he was a sweet guy, and a big tipper." After hearing about the visit, Jobs recalled that "it was amazing... I had been to that restaurant a few times and I remember meeting the owner. He was Syrian. Balding. We shook hands." However, Jobs did not want to meet Jandali because "I was a wealthy man by then, and I didn't trust him not to try to blackmail me or go to the press about it... I asked Mona not to tell him about me." Jandali later discovered his relationship to Jobs through an online blog. He then contacted Simpson and asked "what is this thing about Steve Jobs?" Simpson told him that it was true and later commented, "My father is thoughtful and a beautiful storyteller, but he is very, very passive... he never contacted Steve." Because Simpson, herself, researched her Syrian roots and began to meet members of the family, she assumed that Jobs would eventually want to meet their father, but he never did. Simpson fictionalized the search for their father in the 1992 novel, '' The Lost Father''. She would also create a fictional portrait of Jobs in the 1996 novel, ''A Regular Guy.''
Simpson married the television writer and producer
Richard Appel
Richard James Appel (born May 21, 1963) is an American writer, producer and former Attorney at law, attorney. Since 2012, he has served as an executive producer and co-showrunner of ''Family Guy'' on Fox. He attended Harvard University and Harvar ...
in 1993 and had two children, Gabriel and Grace. Appel, a writer for ''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, ...
'', named the character
Mona Simpson
Mona Simpson (née Jandali; June 14, 1957) is an American novelist. She has written six novels and studied English at the University of California, Berkeley and Languages and Literature at Columbia University.
She won a Whiting Award for her fi ...
after his wife, beginning with the episode "
Mother Simpson
"Mother Simpson" is the eighth episode of the seventh season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 19, 1995. After faking his own death to get a day off wo ...
". They later divorced. Simpson's paternal cousins include
Malek Jandali
Malek Jandali ( ar, مالك جندلي, ) (born 1972) is a German-born Syrian- American pianist and composer. He is the founder of the nonprofit organization Pianos for Peace, which aims to build peace through music and education. Jandali imm ...
and
Bassma Al Jandaly
Bassma Al Jandaly ( ar, بسمة الجندلي) is a journalist based in the United Arab Emirates; she worked as a community and crime correspondent at Dubai-based English-language newspaper ''Gulf News'', and is known for her demonstrated intere ...
.
Awards
* 1986,
Whiting Award
The Whiting Award is an American award presented annually to ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and plays. The award is sponsored by the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation
Mrs. (American English) or Mrs (British English; standard E ...
* 1987, Hodder Fellowship (Princeton University)
* 1988, Guggenheim Fellowship
* 1995, Lila Wallace Reader's Digest Fellowship
* 2001, ''Chicago Tribune'' Heartland Prize
* 2001, Finalist: PEN/Faulkner award
* 2008, Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters
Works
Novels
* '' Anywhere But Here'' (1986)
* '' The Lost Father'' (1992)
* ''A Regular Guy'' (1996)
* ''Off Keck Road'' (2000) 'P77)
* ''My Hollywood'' (2010)
* ''Casebook'' (2014)
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 ...