Susan Shapiro, author portrait
© Dan Brownstein

Susan Shapiro

Susan Shapiro, an award-winning writing professor, freelances for The New York Times, New York magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Elle,  The New Yorker and Oprah magazines online. She’s the bestselling author or co-author of 14 books her family hates, including Five Men Who Broke My Heart, Lighting Up, Unhooked, The Bosnia List, and the inspiring writing guide The Byline Bible. She and her husband, a scriptwriter, live in Greenwich Village, where she teaches her popular “instant gratification takes too long” classes at The New School,  NYU, Columbia University and in private online workshops and seminars.
The Bosnia List

Books

The Bosnia List

What Students Will Be Reading: Campus Common Reading Roundup, 2025-26

With the fall semester in full swing, colleges and universities around the country have announced their Common Reading books for the upcoming 2025-26 academic year. We’ve compiled a list of over 286 programs and their title selections from publicly available sources, which you can download here: First-Year Reading 2025-26. We will continue to update this

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Register for the 2026 Penguin Random House First-Year Experience® Conference Author Events!

Penguin Random House Author Events at the 45th Annual First-Year Experience® Conference February 15-18, 2026 Seattle, Washington Hyatt Regency Seattle Click Here to RSVP A complimentary meal and a limited number of books will be available to attendees. Each event will also be followed by an author signing. Interested in hosting one of these authors at

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2026 Catalog for First-Year & Common Reading

We are delighted to present our new First-Year & Common Reading Catalog for 2026! From award-winning fiction, poetry, memoir, and biography to new books about the environment, current events, history, public health, science, social justice, student success, and technology, the titles presented in our common reading catalog will have students not only eagerly flipping through

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