ANNABELLE GURWITCH

SHORT BIO:

ANNABELLE GURWITCH is an actress, activist, and New York Times Bestselling author of six books and two-time finalist for the Thurber Prize.

Her essays have appeared in The New Yorker, New York Times, Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Boston Globe, and Hadassah Magazine amongst other publications. Her six books include the New York Times bestseller and Thurber Prize finalist I See You Made an Effort.

Annabelle co-hosted the fan favorite Dinner & a Movie on TBS, was a regular commentator for NPR. She is serving in leadership as a patient advocate with the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC). She is a Jewish mother, a terrible gardener, even worse ukulele player, a lung cancer survivor,and an unrepentant cat lady who lives in Los Angeles.

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LONGER BIO:

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ANNABELLE GURWITCH is an actress, activist, and New York Times Bestselling author. Her 2021 collection of essays, You're Leaving When? Adventures in Downward Mobility was a New York Times Favorite Book for Healthy Living, a Good Morning America Must Read and a finalist for The Thurber Prize for American Humor Writing 2022.​ "harnessing resilience and learning how life’s disappointments can teach you about the things that matter most” (Tara Parker Pope, NYTimes). 

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She's written for The New Yorker, New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Magazine, and Hadassah amongst other publications. Her six books include the New York Times bestseller and Thurber Prize finalist I See You Made an Effort. She's written and developed adaptations of her books for HBO, F/X, Hallmark, NBC, Lifetime networks.

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She was the longtime cohost of the fan favorite "Dinner & a Movie" on TBS and a regular commentator on NPR. She's performed on the Moth Mainstage, Joe's Pub, at Carolines on Broadway, The New York and Aspen Comedy Fests, many plays Off-B'way and at arts centers around the country. Her acting credits include: "Seinfeld,""Murphy Brown,""Boston Legal," and "Dexter." Once in while she returns to acting playing Rabbi Gurwitch on "Better Things" on FX or a therapist for an FBI agent in Michael Bay’s "Ambulance."

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In 2024, she returned to Off-B'way to portray Parkland teacher Ivy Schamis in Room 1214 a play by Michele Kholos Brooks based on Interviews with Schamis, who survived the massacre.

Time Magazine featured Annabelle in their “Ten Ideas that are Changing the World” annual series. Her media appearances include: GMA, The Today Show, Real Time with Bill Maher, CBS Early Morning, Oprah, PBS Newshour, and many CNN, MSNBC programs. Annabelle is honored to be featured as a member of the Shalom Y'all tribe and a Southern Jewish author alongside Tony Kushner and Lillian Hellman in the Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience in New Orleans. 

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Annabelle has been chronicling living with stage 4 lung cancer and inequities in healthcare in the New York Times, Boston Globe,and Washington Post since her out-of-the-blue diagnosis during covid. She's given patient advocate talks at scientific conferences and patient support groupd around the globe including in Vienna, Rome, Singapore, Barcelona,and Brisbane. In 2023 she received a Patient Advocate Award from the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC)and she is currently serving in leadership in the IASLC.

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She's guest lectured,taught essay writing and storytelling at The School of the New York Times, University of CA Redlands graduate writing program, Miami Dade Community College, Thurber House, George Washington U, Maine Media College, and The Erma Bombeck Writers Conference, University of Dayton, Ohio, and at The Canyon Ranch in Arizona. She leads writing workshops for people in treatment.

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Her greatest pleasure comes from her engagement with The Campfire Project which sponsors writing workshops and therapeutic arts programming for young migrants seeking asylum.

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