Linda Simon

Linda Simon’s books include biographies of Alice B. Toklas (Gertrude Stein’s companion and famous baker of hashish brownies), Thornton Wilder (playwright who wrote Our Town), William James (founder of American psychology), Margaret Beaufort (grandmother of Henry VIII), and now Coco Chanel. What do these men and women have in common? Defiance. Each of them fought against the life that they should have led to create their own bold path. That’s why they made such fascinating subjects. In her biographies, Simon illuminates the struggles, challenges, self-doubts, and moments of pure luck that shaped their lives. She’s now working on a history of the circus. After all, isn’t running away to join the circus one way to defy the life other people have planned out for you?

Besides writing, Simon teaches literature and nonfiction creative writing at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York.