Joanna Rakoff


Joanna Rakoff is an American freelance journalist, poet, critic and novelist.

Early life

Rakoff was born in Nyack, New York State in 1972.

Education

Between 1990 and 1995, Rakoff studied English Literature at Oberlin College in Ohio and then completed an MA in English Literature at UCL in London.

Life and career

In 1996, aged 23, Rakoff took a job at one of New York’s oldest literary agencies, Harold Ober Associates. Unbeknownst to Rakoff, the agency looked after the interests of the notoriously reclusive writer J. D. Salinger. In her time at the agency Rakoff's responsibilities included responding to the large volume of fan mail that Salinger was sent, Rakoff would respond with a generic response that explained that Salinger did not read fan mail. Her period at the agency coincided with Salinger's aborted publication of the Hapworth 16, 1924 short story. Rakoff's experiences with the agency and her encounters with Salinger himself would later be recounted in her memoir of her time at the literary agency, My Salinger Year.
Rakoff's first novel A Fortunate Age was published in 2009. It was awarded the 'Goldberg Prize for Jewish Fiction by Emerging Writers'.
In 2010, Rakoff created a radio documentary about Salinger and his fan mail for BBC Radio 4, entitled Hey Mr Salinger. A publisher listening to the radio, heard the show and got in contact with Rakoff encouraging her to produce a memoir about her time working for the agency that looked after Salinger's interests. This memoir became Rakoff's second book, entitled My Salinger Year it was published in 2014 to broad critical acclaim. It was picked by Rachel Cooke as one of the best books of 2014. The book was turned into a 2020 film starring Margaret Qualley as Rakoff and Sigourney Weaver as her boss, directed by Philippe Falardeau. It opened the 70th Berlin International Film Festival.
As a freelance writer Rakoff also writes for The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and Vogue.

Personal life

Rakoff lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.