Writer and filmmaker Laurie Gwen Shapiro lives in NYC, her hometown, with her young daughter and Aussie husband. Shapiro has written three adult comic novels to date,. They have been the subject of major feature stories in the New York Times (Including a boxed Times rave for The Unexpected Salami from the famously persnickety Anthony Bourdain and a two-page metro section article on the genesis of The Matzo Ball Heiress.) The Unexpected Salami is also in development as a major motion picture. She is currently completing her second teen novel for Random House, her first novel that will take on darker material, specifically France during the Holocaust. Laurie’s humorous essay "Oy Christmas Tree, Oy Christmas Tree" was published in 2005 in the Penguin anthology THE MODERN JEWISH GIRL'S GUIDE TO GUILT. (The anthology was winner of the National Jewish Book Award) Laurie co-directed and co-produced the 2001 theatrical documentary about octogenarian New Yorker Tobias Schneebaum, KEEP THE RIVER ON YOUR RIGHT: A MODERN CANNIBAL TALE, with her brother David Shapiro. Together they were the recipients of over ten major awards including the Independent Spirit Award for best new documentary directors, and the film is on Variety.com’s list of the high-grossing documentary films. Laurie and her brother David are currently in production on their next documentary scheduled for completion in the summer of 2006. With New York City Sergeant Conor McCourt, Laurie also co-produced two HBO/Cinemax documentaries about her former Stuyvesant High School English teacher Frank McCourt and his three brothers—THE MCCOURTS OF LIMERICK (1999), and THE MCCOURTS OF NEW YORK(2000). Laurie Gwen Shapiro's first play, INVENTING COLOR, premiered at the 2002 New York International Fringe Festival. It was awarded one of three "Best in Festival" citations by Stagepress. She is also developing The Matzo Ball Heiress as a play at the Henry Street Settlement.