Author Profile: Danielle Ganek

Author Name: Danielle Ganek

Website: http://www.danielleganek.com/index.php

Bio: Perhaps it was a sign when, at the age of nine, she dressed as a bookworm (tights, antennae and an enormous painted cardboard “book”) for an improvised American-style Halloween in Sao Paolo, Brazil that Danielle Ganek would one day become a writer. Although American, she spent most of her childhood in Brazil and then in Lausanne, Switzerland. She says she always felt like a foreigner even when she returned to the United States at the age of 16 to attend the Walnut Hill School for the Arts. “Being a perpetual outsider made me a constant observer and I began writing as a child,” she says.

Upon receiving a B.A. in English from Franklin and Marshall College, Danielle moved to New York City to write. She lived with two aspiring actresses in a fifth floor walk up in Chelsea and worked in the magazine world, eventually landing at French department store chain Galeries Lafayette as a Creative Director. At the same time, she continued to study writing, with classes at Columbia University School of Continuing Education, Writers Boot Camp and the Writers Studio. She wrote pieces of novels and short stories, with much of her early work focusing on women pursuing their creative goals.

When Danielle had her first child, Galeries Lafayette closed in New York and she took this as a sign to stop working full- time and focus on writing and being a mother. After three children and a move to Connecticut she and her husband returned to their beloved New York City in 2005 and Danielle focused her efforts on completing a novel. Lulu Meets God And Doubts Him was published by Viking in June 2007. The Summer We Read Gatsby follows in June 2010.

Titles: Lulu Meets God and Doubts Him, The Summer We Read Gatsby

Currently: Danielle currently lives in New York City with her husband, three children and some inspiring art.