Penelope Rowlands

I'm the author of A Dash of Daring: Carmel Snow and Her Life in Fashion, Art, and Letters, a biography of the legendary editor-in-chief of Harper's Bazaar (1934-1958), which was published by Atria Books in 2005 and Simon & Schuster UK the following year.

I'm currently working on another biography (the subject of which is secret, for now!). I'm thrilled to have been awarded a Leon Levy Fellowship to research this project at the Center for the History of Collecting at the Frick Art Research Library, The Frick Collection, New York City, over the summer and fall of 2019.

My other biographical projects include one about Founding Father Aaron Burr's exile in Europe from 1908-12; an article I wrote, derived from this research, has just been published in the Summer 2019 issue of The American Scholar.

My other books include two anthologies, both published by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. In each case, I compiled and edited the volume, while also contributing the introduction and an essay of my own.

Paris Was Ours: 32 Writers Reflect on the City of Light (2011) -- now in its 7th printing! -- examines the transformative effect of living in the French capital, something I've done recurrently over the years. The Beatles Are Here: 50 Years After The Band Arrived in America, Writers, Musicians, and Other Fans Remember was inspired by a photograph of me -- screaming, of course -- that ran in The New York Times when a certain band came to town, with ecstatic multitudes in its wake.

My earliest books were on design, including monographs on two famous European industrial designers, Jean Prouvé and Eileen Gray, (both published by Chronicle Books as part of its Compact Design series).