Photo Credit: Marion Ettlinger
Tawni O’Dell is the New York Times bestselling author of the novels 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. Her work has been published in over 40 countries. Back Roads is currently in development to be made into a film by Michael Ohoven, the producer of the Academy-Award-winning, Capote. Tawni adapted the screenplay which is set to be directed by Adrian Lyne.
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 Chicago before moving back to Pennsylvania where she now resides with her two children.