Laurie Colwin

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Laurie Colwin (June 14, 1944 – October 24, 1992) was an American author. Her published works include Passion and Affect (1974), Shine on, Bright and Dangerous Object (1975), Happy All the Time (1978), The Lone Pilgrim (1981), Family Happiness (1982), Another Marvelous Thing (1988), Home Cooking (1988), Goodbye without Leaving (1990), More Home Cooking (1993), and A Big Storm Knocked It Over (1993). The PBS series American Playhouse adapted Colwin's short story An Old-Fashioned Story as a 90-minute film retitled Ask Me Again [1], which aired February 8, 1989.

Laurie Colwin grew up in New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago, the second child of Estelle Colwin (nee Woolfson) and Peter Colwin. In Philadelphia, she attended the Cheltenham High School, which inducted her posthumously into their Hall of Fame in 1999.

From a young age, Colwin was a prolific writer. Her work first appeared in The New Yorker, and in 1974 her first collection of short stories was published. She was a regular contributor to Gourmet magazine and had articles in Mademoiselle, Allure, and Playboy.

Colwin died unexpectedly in 1992 from heart-related complications at the age of 48. Her last two books, More Home Cooking and A Big Storm Knocked It Over, were published posthumously. She also appears in Nancy Crampton's 2005 book of photography, Writers, which features Crampton's portraits of various literary figures.

Colwin's husband, Juris Jurjevics, was the editor-in-chief of Soho Press for 20 years and wrote a book, The Trudeau Vector, published in 2003; her daughter, Rosa Jurjevics, is a contributing writer for the San Diego Reader. Colwin's sister, Leslie Rifkin, owns a successful knit-wear label in Philadelphia and works in community outreach.