Hi! I’m Lisa Napoli.
In the last year, I’ve worked on the memoirs of Connie Chung, a rags-to-riches billionaire who transformed my native borough of Brooklyn and a television impresario (that project is underway as we speak.)
Life-writing is my thing…
…whether it’s biographies like those I’ve written about Ted Turner and the merry band of pioneers who started CNN; the founding mothers of NPR; and Joan Kroc, the great under-recognized philanthropist who gave away the McDonald’s fortune.
I love both forms and talking about them so much that I teach workshops on triggering memory, helped co-create a podcast for BIO, and am even studying the craft as a graduate student at CUNY Graduate Center.
In my previous work, I was a columnist and reporter for a pioneering online section of the New York Times; a reporter and host for the public radio show Marketplace; the technology correspondent for MSNBC/MSNBC.com; and an arts reporter for KCRW.
I love interviewing people live on stage, as I did in 2024 at the Miami Book Festival with the Rock Bottom Remainders.
Let’s be in touch!
“..illuminates the terrifying, thrilling energy of NPR as start-up…a lesson in how the fringe project of one generation becomes the mainstream of the next.”
The New York Times
“Napoli’s narrative skills are outstanding.”
Chicago Tribune
“…an indelible portrait of the media mogul in all his profane, cartoonish glory.”
Wall Street Journal
“A rare gift….the chronicle of a country barreling toward change, and a woman’s search for what happiness really means at any age.”
Christian Science Monitor
“Her book about me and the other Founding Mothers of NPR is a breath-taking sweep of the lives of four women, the history of our times as journalists, and the story of public radio’s emergence as a powerful institution. How she accomplishes all that in less than 300 pages is a small miracle. I’m honored to have been exposed to her careful scrutiny.”
—Susan Stamberg, NPR Special Correspondent
“Lisa Napoli has a unique talent for capturing the passion and the voice of her subjects and conveying their experiences and thinking with verve and accuracy. And she is an absolute joy to work with.”
—Jamison Stoltz, editorial director, Abrams Press
“Lisa Napoli is a delight to work with in every way, both personally and professionally! But one of her greatest accomplishments is how she’s able to evoke other characters, other voices, even other time periods, and give us a sense of who the person behind the page really is in a truly living, breathing way.”
—Jill Schwartzman, VP, Executive Editor, Dutton