Mona Simpson (née Jandali; June 14, 1957) is an American novelist and the former wife of Richard Appel. She has written seven novels. She studied English at the University of California, Berkeley and received an MFA from Columbia University. She won a Whiting Award for her first novel, Anywhere but Here (1986). It was a popular and critical success and later adapted as a movie of the same name, starring Susan Sarandon and Natalie Portman.
She wrote a sequel, The Lost Father (1992). Critical recognition has included the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize, A Guggenheim grant, An NEA Award, the Berlin Prize and the Mary McCarthy Prize. She also made the shortlist for the PEN/Faulkner Award for her novel Off Keck Road (2000).
Simpson is the younger sister of the late Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs. Simpson was born after her parents had married. She did not meet Jobs, who was placed for adoption after he was born, until she was 27 years old.
