Best-selling Author Patty Dann to Join Saugatuck Writers’ Studio

Patty Dann, one of the “great teachers of New York City,” according to New York Magazine, will join the faculty of the Fairfield County Writers’ Studio in September. Dann, of Manhattan, is perhaps best known for her novel “Mermaids,” on which the movie featuring Cher, Winona Ryder and Christina Ricci was based.

At the Studio, located at 21 Charles St. in Saugatuck center, Dann will teach memoir. She is the author of two memoirs, and her book on the craft, “The Butterfly Hours: Transforming Memories into Memoir,” was named one of the “Best Books for Writers” by Poets & Writers Magazine.

“We are thrilled to welcome Patty to our studio,” said Carol Dannhauser, the studio’s co-founder. “She is enthusiastic, intelligent and experienced across genres. She’s an awesome teacher.”

“I'm excited about teaching a workshop at the Fairfield County Writers’ Studio,” Dann said. “I hope to create a supportive yet challenging environment in which each writer learns not only how to improve from line to line, but to find the shape their writing should take.”

In addition to her novels and memoirs, Dann’s work has appeared in The New York Times, the Boston Globe, the Chicago Tribune, O Magazine, The Oregon Quarterly, Redbook, Forbes Woman, Poets & Writers Magazine, “The Writer’s Handbook,” “Dirt: The Quirks, Habits and Passions of Keeping House,” “This I Believe: On Motherhood” and more.

Dann earned an MFA in writing from Columbia University and a B.A. from the University of Oregon.