Patty Dann's "The Wright Sister"

Patty Dann's novels include Mermaids, Starfish and Sweet & Crazy. The books have been translated into French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese. Mermaids was made into a movie starring Cher, Winona Ryder, and Christina Ricci. Dann is also the author of The Butterfly Hours: Transforming Memories into Memoir, The Goldfish Went on Vacation: A Memoir of Loss, and The Baby Boat: A Memoir of Adoption. Dann's articles have appeared in the New York Times, Boston Globe, O, The Oprah Magazine, and numerous other publications. She teaches writing workshops at the West Side YMCA in New York. Dann is married to journalist Michael Hill and has one son and two stepsons.

Her new book is The Wright Sister, an epistolary novel of historical fiction that imagines the life of Katharine Wright and her relationship with her famous brothers, Wilbur and Orville Wright.

Here Dann dreamcasts an adaptation of the novel:

I have imagined The Wright Sister as a movie.

I think Reese Witherspoon would be a great Katharine.

I also think Laura Linney would be wonderful.

Perhaps Jeff Daniels as her husband, Harry Haskell.

I definitely think a woman director is required.

Visit Patty Dann's website.

Q&A with Patty Dann.

The Page 69 Test: The Wright Sister.

--Marshal Zeringue