Biography
Jane Mendelsohn is an American writer. She is the author of several novels, including the international bestseller I Was Amelia Earhart (1996), which was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction. Her other works include Innocence (2000), American Music (2010) and Burning Down the House (2016).
Mendelsohn was born in New York City in 1965 and graduated summa cum laude from Yale University. She attended Yale Law School for a year and a half before pursuing a career in writing and journalism. Her book reviews and articles have appeared in publications including The New York Times, The Guardian and the London Review of Books.
She co-wrote the screenplay for the 2025 documentary You Had to Be There: How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution, Spread Love & Overalls, and Created a Community That Changed the World (in a Canadian Kind of Way) with director Nick Davis, to whom she is married. She also served as executive producer on the film.
