Daphne Joyce Maynard is a five-time Scholastic Awards winner (1966-68, 1970 and 1971) who is best-known for writing candidly about her life as well as for her fourteen works of fiction and hundreds of essays and newspaper columns on marriage, family and parenting.
During her freshman year at Yale University in 1971, Maynard sent a collection of writings to the editors of The New York Times Magazine, which later helped her reach national awareness after the publication of her New York Times cover story, “An 18-Year-Old Looks Back on Life” (check out an excerpt of this article on her website: JoyceMaynard.com), in the spring of 1972. Since then, she has made contributions to NPR, Newsweek, The Oprah Magazine, Vogue O. and more! Her best-selling memoir, At Home in the World, revealed her relationship with author J.D. Salinger and was the subject of much controversy.
Maynard’s novel, Labor Day, is currently being developed into a Jason Reitman movie starring Josh Brolin and Kate Winslet. The 1995 dark comedy film, To Die For, starring Nicole Kidman, Matt Dillon and Joaquin Phoenix, is also based on one of Maynard’s novels with the same name.
A very happy 58th birthday to a very talented and versatile writer!