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Donna Freitas Biography, Books, and Similar Authors

Author Biography  | Interview  | Books by this Author  | Read-Alikes

Donna Freitas
Photo: Allen Murabayashi

Donna Freitas

Donna Freitas Biography

Donna Frietas is a Brooklyn-based author of fiction and nonfiction, as well as memoir and novels for young adults and middle grade readers. Her first novel for adults, The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano was released in April 2021. She is also a professor and researcher on topics related to sex on campus, Title IX, and sexual assault, as well as social media and young adults. She has appeared on NPR, The Today Show, and many other radio and news programs to talk about her work, and her writing has been published in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the LA Times, among other places. She has been a professor at Boston University and in Hofstra University's Honors College, and is currently on faculty at Fairleigh Dickinson University's MFA in Creative Writing.

Donna Freitas's website

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Interview

An essay by Donna Frietas in which she discusses her first novel, The Possibilities of Sainthood.

Italians never tell a story in a straight line. It’s because they like to talk so much. Digressions are the hallmark—Wait, you’re telling me I never told you about the time your grandmother’s brother Geista showed up in a long black limo to the wedding and your aunt thought he was in the Mafia? Before I can go any further I’ve gotta tell you that one… The longer the story, the more reason to keep sipping that glass of wine or cup of espresso and eating more of that yummy sfogliatelle. And hands, always big, dramatic gestures with the hands.

If you could see Antonia Lucia Labella talk—she’d be gesticulating wildly. Always.

Growing up, my favorite stories of all were the ones that my mother, Concetta Lucia, and my grandmother, Amalia, used to tell about the two enormous fig trees behind the family’s Italian market—Goglia’s (it’s still open, in Bristol, RI)—where my mother spent her youth in the tiny apartment above the store. I never tired of her stories about how she got in trouble for plucking the biggest, juiciest figs for herself, and especially about how difficult it was to keep those trees alive during the harsh Rhode Island winters, when the whole ...

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Books by this Author

Books by Donna Freitas at BookBrowse
The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano jacket The Survival Kit jacket The Possibilities of Sainthood jacket
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Read-Alikes

All the books below are recommended as read-alikes for Donna Freitas but some maybe more relevant to you than others depending on which books by the author you have read and enjoyed. So look for the suggested read-alikes by title linked on the right.
How we choose read-alikes

  • Kate Atkinson

    Kate Atkinson

    Kate Atkinson won the Whitbread (now Costa) Book of the Year prize with her first novel, Behind the Scenes at the Museum. Her four bestselling novels featuring former detective Jackson Brodie became the BBC television series ... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano

    Try:
    Life After Life
    by Kate Atkinson

  • Brit Bennett

    Brit Bennett

    Born and raised in Southern California, Brit Bennett graduated from Stanford University and later earned her MFA in fiction at the University of Michigan, where she won a Hopwood Award in Graduate Short Fiction as well as the... (more)

    If you enjoyed:
    The Nine Lives of Rose Napolitano

    Try:
    The Mothers
    by Brit Bennett

We recommend 9 similar authors

View all 9 Read-Alikes

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