Melissa Broder

Melissa Broder (born August 29, 1979) is an author, essayist and poet. Her work includes novels The Pisces (Penguin Random House 2018)[1] and Milk Fed (Simon and Schuster 2021),[2] the poetry collection Last Sext (Tin House 2016),[3] and essay collection So Sad Today (Grand Central 2016),[4] as well as the popular Twitter feed also titled So Sad Today, on which the book is based.[5] Broder has written for The New York Times, Elle, Vice, Vogue Italia, and New York magazine‘s The Cut.[6]

Melissa Broder
Broder in New York, NY in 2017
Born (1979-08-29) August 29, 1979
EducationTufts University (BA)
City College of New York (MFA)
Occupations
  • Author
  • essayist
  • poet
Notable workSo Sad Today, The Pisces, Last Sext, Milk Fed
AwardsPushcart Prize
Websitemelissabroder.com

Early life

Broder grew up in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania with her younger sister Hayley. Her father Bob was a tax lawyer and her mother owned a stationery store. She attended the Baldwin School and became interested in poetry early, writing her first collection in third grade.[4]

Broder attended Tufts University 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, where she worked odd jobs before she relocated to New York City at 25. There she worked as a publicist for Penguin Books and attended night classes at City College of New York, earning an MFA in poetry.[4]

Broder has been clean and sober since age 25.[7]

Career

Poetry

Broder has published five collections of poetry,[8] including Superdoom[9] (August 2021). Broder won a Pushcart Prize for the poem "Forgotten Sound"[10] included in her collection Last Sext.

Twitter

Broder began tweeting anonymously from her So Sad Today Twitter account in 2012.[7] She began her So Sad Today column for Vice in December 2014.[4]

She revealed herself as the account's author in a Rolling Stone interview in May 2015.[11]

As of February 2021, the So Sad Today profile had more than 1 million followers.[12]

So Sad Today

In 2016, Broder published a collection of personal essays, So Sad Today, based on her Twitter account.[13] The collection includes some essays initially published in Vice under her So Sad Today pen name.[4]

The Pisces

In 2018 Broder published the novel The Pisces,[1] which garnered praise from The New York Times, The New Yorker, Vogue, and The Washington Post.

Milk Fed

Broder published Milk Fed[14] in 2021, a critically acclaimed[15] novel which Kirkus described as "[b]old, dry, and delightfully dirty."[16]

Other projects

Broder is adapting The Pisces for Lionsgate Films.[1]

She also writes the Beauty and Death column for Elle. In 2020 it was announced a television show based on her novel Milk Fed was being developed. No news has emerged since then. [17]

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".[18] Broder has recorded near-weekly episodes of the "show" since May 2018.

Personal life

Broder is married and lives in Los Angeles.[19] She is a caregiver for her husband who has a progressive neuroimmune disease that leaves him bedridden for months at a time.[20] She identifies as bisexual. [21]

Bibliography

Poetry

Essay collection
  • So Sad Today (Grand Central, 2016)[30]

Novels
  • The Pisces (Penguin Random House, 2018)[31]
  • Milk Fed (Simon and Schuster, 2021)[14]
  • Death Valley (Simon and Schuster, 2023)[32]

Contributor

  • The Ampersand Vol. 4 (Ampersand Book, 2009)
  • Stoked V (2013)
  • Poetry Magazine December 2014 (Poetry Foundation, 2014)
  • Keep This Bag Away from Children 2
  • The Hour of the Star (narrator, 2017)
  • Through Clenched Teeth (Triangle House, 2018)
  • Regiment of Women (Modern Library, 2023)

References
  1. Syme, Rachel (April 26, 2018). "In 'The Pisces,' a Woman and a Merman Fall in Love. Aquatic Erotica Ensues". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 17, 2018. Retrieved May 14, 2018.
  2. Rosenfeld, Lucinda (February 2, 2021). "A Novel of Sex, Faith and Lots of Yogurt". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on February 23, 2021. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
  3. "Fiction Book Review: Last Sext by Melissa Broder". Publishers Weekly. April 18, 2016. Archived from the original on August 2, 2016. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
  4. Joiner, Whitney (March 14, 2016). "Why Is Melissa Broder So Sad Today?". Elle. No. April 2016. Archived from the original on May 3, 2017. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
  5. Lovitt, Bryn (March 15, 2016). "So Sad Today Author Melissa Broder on Twitter Anonymity and Internet Addiction". Vanity Fair. Archived from the original on October 24, 2016. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
  6. "A Night of "Bad" Sex". McNallyJackson.com. March 9, 2021.
  7. Mlotek, Haley (March 24, 2016). "The Hidden Vulnerabilities of @SoSadToday". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on May 17, 2017. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
  8. Volpe, Allie (March 14, 2016). "Melissa Broder happy to bring 'So Sad Today' back home". Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on July 30, 2016. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
  9. "Superdoom: Selected Poems". TinHouse.com.
  10. Henderson, Bill; Pushcart Press (January 1, 2017). "Pushcart prize XLI, 2017: best of the small presses". The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses. ISSN 0149-7863. OCLC 961956305.
  11. Vozick-Levinson, Simon (May 19, 2015). "SoSadToday Reveals Her Identity and Existential Beach Read". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on May 16, 2017. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
  12. "So Sad Today on Twitter". Twitter.com. Archived from the original on May 15, 2017. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
  13. Coakley, Alexandra (May 4, 2016). "The Ocean of Sadness". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Archived from the original on April 29, 2017. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
  14. Broder, Melissa (February 2, 2021). Milk Fed. ISBN 978-1-9821-4249-0. Archived from the original on February 4, 2021. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
  15. Bolonik, Kera (January 28, 2021). "Melissa Broder's 'Milk Fed' is a delicious new novel that ravishes with sex and food - The Boston Globe". Boston Globe. Archived from the original on February 3, 2021. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
  16. MILK FED | Kirkus Reviews. Archived from the original on December 2, 2020. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
  17. Walker, Harron (March 23, 2021). "The novel 'Milk Fed' queers—and redeems—the manic pixie dream girl trope". Xtra Magazine.
  18. "SOSADTODAY'S Melissa Broder performs "Eating Alone in My Car"". litseen.com. October 24, 2019. Archived from the original on November 27, 2020. Retrieved February 26, 2021.
  19. Bromwich, Kathryn (May 8, 2016). "So Sad Today's Melissa Broder: 'I just want to rip that chapter out'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on April 17, 2017. Retrieved May 14, 2017.
  20. Carl, Cori (August 31, 2018). "So Sad Today". The Caregiver Space.
  21. "Melissa Broder on Hunger, Humor, and Writing a Novel by Dictation". ELLE. February 16, 2021. Retrieved July 10, 2023.
  22. Moysaenko, Peter (March 19, 2010). "Melissa Broder, When You Say One Thing But Mean Your Mother". BOMB Magazine. Archived from the original on March 21, 2017. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
  23. Zingg, Matthew (April 14, 2012). "I Have a Jaw That Seeks Chunks". The Rumpus. Archived from the original on April 18, 2017. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
  24. "Fiction Book Review: Meat Heart by Melissa Broder". Publishers Weekly. March 1, 2012. Archived from the original on October 20, 2020. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
  25. Moysaenko, Peter (July 27, 2012). "Melissa's Meat Heart". BOMB Magazine. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
  26. Diamond, Jason (February 25, 2014). "Melissa Broder Is Twitter's Most Fascinating Poet". Flavorwire. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
  27. "Fiction Book Review: Scarecrone by Melissa Broder". Publishers Weekly. February 24, 2014. Archived from the original on October 20, 2020. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
  28. Derby, Edward (April 21, 2017). "The Teenage Girl in All of Us: Last Sext by Melissa Broder". The Rumpus. Archived from the original on April 27, 2017. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
  29. Delaney, Kellylouise (June 13, 2016). "What Is Melissa Broder's Last Sext?: Talking Poetry, God, and LA with the Darkly Brilliant Writer". Brooklyn Magazine. Archived from the original on June 18, 2016. Retrieved May 15, 2016.
  30. Havrilesky, Heather (March 15, 2016). "Ask Polly and So Sad Today Talk About Feelings". The Cut. New York. Archived from the original on September 13, 2016. Retrieved May 15, 2017.
  31. The Pisces by Melissa Broder | PenguinRandomHouse.com. Archived from the original on February 27, 2018. Retrieved February 26, 2018.
  32. Broder, Melissa (October 24, 2023). Death Valley. ISBN 978-1-6680-2484-3.
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