Laurie Colwin

Who was Laurie Colwin?

Laurie Colwin was an American author. Her published works include Passion and Affect, Shine on, Bright and Dangerous Object, Happy All the Time, The Lone Pilgrim, Family Happiness, Another Marvelous Thing, Home Cooking, Goodbye without Leaving, More Home Cooking, and A Big Storm Knocked It Over. The PBS series American Playhouse adapted Colwin's short story An Old-Fashioned Story as a 90-minute film retitled Ask Me Again, which aired February 8, 1989.

Colwin was born in Manhattan, New York City, and grew up in Lake Ronkonkoma, on Long Island, Philadelphia and Chicago, the second child of Estelle Colwin and Peter Colwin. In Philadelphia, she attended the Cheltenham High School, which inducted her posthumously into their Hall of Fame in 1999.

From a young age, Colwin was a prolific writer. Her work first appeared in The New Yorker, and in 1974 her first collection of short stories was published. She was a regular contributor to Gourmet magazine and had articles in Mademoiselle, Allure, and Playboy. Her non-fiction books are collections of essays, and are as much memoirs as cookbooks.