Tawni O'Dell
Tawni O'Dell is the New York Times bestselling author of Fragile Beasts, Sister Mine, Coal Run, and Back Roads, which was an Oprah's Book Club pick and a Book-of-the-Month Club Main Selection. Tawni's screen adaptation of Back Roads is currently in development to be made into a film with Adrian Lyne set to direct. Her work has been translated into 15 languages and been published in over 30 countries.
Tawni was born and raised in the coal-mining region of western Pennsylvania, the territory she writes about with such striking authenticity. She graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in journalism and spent many years living in the Chicago area before moving back to Pennsylvania where she now lives with her two children.
“They were like English teachers who took the fun out of a perfectly good book by breaking it down into themes and sentence structures”
Tawni O'Dell
“I've decided that the worst part of loneliness isn't being alone. It's being forgotten.”
Tawni O'Dell
“Maybe over time I'll forget the feel and smell and sound of him, the same way I am starting to forget Mom, but I'll never be able to forget that he should've been here.”
Tawni O'Dell
“I don't like phones. You can't be sure people are paying attention to you when you're talking to them.”
Tawni O'Dell
“I wanted to end it now, like a bad TV show turned off in the middle.”
Tawni O'Dell
“She hated her job the same way I hated my jobs because she knew she was worth more, but she also hated herself so there wasn't much point in trying to do better.”
Tawni O'Dell
“Capitalism is based on the concept that in order for someone to succeed, someone else has to suffer.”
Tawni O'Dell
“ A man spends his whole life trying to prove his worth to others. A woman spends her life trying to prove her worth to herself.”
Tawni O'Dell