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Taking from essays on depression she has written for The New Yorker and The New York Times Magazine, Daphne Merkin’s new memoir This Close to Happy is the rare, vividly personal account of what it feels like to suffer from clinical depression. In trying to sort out the root causes of her affliction, Merkin reflects on her childhood, her mother, her life as a writer, her marriage, and the birth of her child as she discusses in poignant detail various therapists, treatments, and hospitalizations for depression along the way. In an intimate conversation on her lifelong battle with depression and her search for release, Merkin is joined by Jill Soloway, the Emmy-winning creator of Transparent.
Daphne Merkin, a former staff writer for The New Yorker, is a regular contributor to Elle. She has written a novel and two collections of essays; her writing appears in The New York Times, Departures, Travel + Leisure, W, Vogue, and other publications. Her essay collection The Fame Lunches was one of The New York Times Book Review s Hundred Notable Books of the Year.
Jill Soloway is the creator of Amazon Studios’ Transparent, a dark, deep, silly family series about boundaries, love, and secrets. Jill won the US Dramatic Directing Award at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival for her first feature, Afternoon Delight, which was released by Cinedigm/Film Arcade. She recently founded WIFEY.TV, a channel/brand for women. Jill is a three-time Emmy nominee for her work writing and producing Six Feet Under.
