We catch up with author Elin Hilderbrand
Education
- BA, The Writing Seminars, 1991
- MFA, Creative Writing, University of Iowa, 1998
Career Highlights
- Regarded as the “Queen of the Beach Read” with over 30 novels, most based on Nantucket where she moved permanently in 1994. One of her books, The Blue Book, acts as a guidebook of the local destinations detailed in her novels.
- Since publishing her first novel, The Beach Club, in 2000, Hilderbrand has released roughly one novel each year, concluding her series of Nantucket-set books with Swan Song in the summer of 2024.
- Her 2019 novel, Summer of ’69, was her first to debut at No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list.
- Recently published The Academy, the first in a two book series written with daughter Shelby Cunningham. It was published in fall 2025 and set at a New England boarding school.
- Her novels have been/will be adapted into multiple series and a film:
- The Perfect Couple (2018) was adapted by Netflix
- Swan Song will be the basis of Season Two of The Perfect Couple
- The Five-Star Weekend is currently being adapted into a series on Peacock
- 28 Summers is in development for a film
- In her senior year at Hopkins, her first short story, “Misdirection,” was accepted for publication in Seventeen magazine.
Quoted
“I was very adamant about not wanting to let the quality of my novels suffer. I feel like everyone out there has read an author like me who is putting out a book a year, or even several books a year, and that author will inevitably deliver a dud. I was adamant that that person was not going to be me.”
—Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, August 2024
“The most important thing about being a novelist isn’t being talented or being inspired. It’s being disciplined and making sure that you get the work done.”
—Self, September 2024
