About Martha
Martha Ackmann is a journalist and author who writes about women who have changed America. Her essays have appeared in The Atlantic, the Paris Review, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. She also is a frequent commentator for New England Public Radio, and has been featured on CNN, National Public Radio, and the BBC.
These Fevered Days
These Fevered Days: Ten Pivotal Moments in the Making of Emily Dickinson takes the reader inside ten significant days that changed the poet’s life. Each day portrays Emily Dickinson at a different point in her extraordinary life—from a 14 year-old girl sitting down to her desk and declaring “all things are ready” to a mature woman with nearly 2,000 breathtaking poems behind her. Based on years of research, These Fevered Days offers a new way for thinking about Emily Dickinson and a dazzling new portrait of an American woman determined to “dwell in possibility.” An engaging, revealing, and accessible read, These Fevered Days is the most intimate biography yet of America’s preeminent poetic genius.
Critical Acclaim for These Fevered Days
Editors’ Choice, The New York Times
“Radiant prose, palpable descriptions, and deep empathy for the poet's sensibility make this biography extraordinary.”
—Kirkus Review, Starred Review
“I quickly came to treasure Ackmann’s ample descriptions, her deep knowledge of the poet’s milieu. . . . [These Fevered Days is] thoroughly researched, and yet, with Ackmann's energetic storytelling, alive.”
—Megan Marshall, New York Times Book Review
“Reads like page-turning fiction. . . .[A] wonderful biography that illustrates the complexity of Dickinson’s life.”
—Elizabeth Lund, Christian Science Monitor
Curveball is now a new American play
Written by Lydia Diamond and based on Martha Ackmann’s book Curveball, Toni Stone made its world premiere at New York’s Roundabout Theatre. The New York Times named the play a Critic’s Pick and the Wall Street Journal called Toni Stone the year’s Best New Play. The play has been produced by repertory companies throughout the country, including theatres in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, and Chicago.