Patty Dann

Teaches at West Side YMCA - Community Arts

Patty Dann is the author of three novels, STARFISH, MERMAIDS and SWEET & CRAZY. She has also published two memoirs, THE GOLDFISH WENT ON VACATION: A MEMOIR OF LOSS and THE BABY BOAT: A MEMOIR OF ADOPTION. Her work has been translated into French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Chinese, Korean and Japanese. MERMAIDS was made into a movie, starring Cher, Winona Ryder and Christina Ricci. Her articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe,The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Christian Science Monitor, O Magazine, The Oregon Quarterly, Redbook, More, Forbes Woman, Poets & Writers Magazine, “The Writer’s Handbook,” “Dirt:The Quirks, Habits and Passions of Keeping House” and “This I Believe: On Motherhood.” She has served as a judge for the Scholastic Young Writers Awards. She has an MFA in Writing from Columbia University and a B.A. from the University of Oregon. Dann has taught at Sarah Lawrence College and the West Side YMCA. She was cited by New York Magazine as one of the “Great Teachers of NYC.”