The American author of Towards A Radical Middle and A Year in the Dark, she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1987. She is known for her works of fiction and non-fiction.
After studying at Bryn Mawr College and Harvard University, she worked as a staff Writer for The New Yorker.
She received a Guggenheim fellowship and the O. Henry Prize for her short story, "Brownstone."
She was born in Italy and raised in Connecticut. Her son, Stephen Adler, became a filmmaker.
Her 1976 novel, Speedboat, won the Ernest Hemingway Award.
