About Alex Mar

Alex Mar is a writer based in her hometown of New York City and in upstate New York. Her first book, Witches of America (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), was a New York Times Notable Book in non-fiction, a New York Times Editors’ Pick, among The Millions’ “Most Anticipated Books,” one of The Believer‘s “Favorite Books” and Huffington Post Books’ “Most Notable” of the year, and a Marie Claire “Top Book-Club Pick.” Some of her recent work has appeared in The Believer, Wired, New York Magazine, The New York Times Book Review, The Guardian, Elle, Tin House, The Virginia Quarterly Review, The Oxford American, The Best American Magazine Writing, and the Ecco anthology Unspeakable Acts (an NPR “Best Book of the Year”). She has been a finalist for the National Magazine Award (ASME) for Feature Writing, and her essays have been included in Longreads’ and BuzzFeed’s year-end lists. Formerly an editor at Rolling Stone, she has been a guest correspondent for CBS, ABC, National Public Radio, and the BBC. She is also the director of the feature-length documentary American Mystic, now streaming on Kino Now, and her work has been optioned and developed for television and film. After five years of immersive research and writing, Mar will publish her second non-fiction book, Seventy Times Seven, in March 2023 through Penguin Press. She is a first-generation American, of Cuban and Greek descent.

Mar’s work has been praised as “unique and vital” (The New York Times Book Review)… “weird and wonderful” (Elle)… “enchanting and addictive” (Kirkus Review)… “sharp and noteworthy” (NPR)… “expertly crafted” (Publishers Weekly)… “brave and sharp and tenaciously researched” (John Jeremiah Sullivan)… “written with a beguiling blend of heart and wit” (Leslie Jamison)… “stories that could only be done by Alex Mar” (the Longform Podcast).