Photo by Kathleen Hanna

Ada Calhoun is the author of Crush: A Novel (Viking, February 2025). Her memoir Also a Poet was named one of the best books of 2022 by the New York Times, Washington Post, and NPR. Past books include the New York Times–bestseller Why We Can't Sleep, Wedding Toasts I'll Never Give, and St. Marks Is Dead. She lives in New York City.
"Crush marks Ada Calhoun's arrival as a novelist, and what an incredibly explosive arrival it is. This book is a sumptuous exploration of how desire takes us over without a shred of moral hedging. A vertiginous—yet somehow also clarifying—novel that will grab you by your shoulders and shake you until you feel alive."
Isaac Fitzgerald, New York Times bestselling author of Dirtbag, Massachusetts
"Calhoun’s debut novel, following the wonderful memoir Also a Poet (2022), is chock-full of great lines, both hers and quotations from other writers...Anything Ada Calhoun wants to write is well worth reading."
"In Crush, desire is an irresistible force. Ada Calhoun is a master at capturing the way we live now, and her propulsive, witty, dreamy debut novel made me feel like I was exchanging secrets with my smartest friend. A heady delight."
Claire Dederer, national bestselling author of Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma

Also a Poet featured on the Today Show

Praise for Also A Poet

Also A Poet contains multitudes. I’ve never read anything like it. The mind boggles at how much brilliance Ada Calhoun has managed to pack into this slim volume: a celebration of one of America’s greatest poets, an ode to New York of today and yesterday, an investigation into legacy and memory, a meditation on art and writing, a humane yet fiercely candid look at the anxiety of influence, a memoir about her fraught but fruitful relationship with her father, who put his art above all else. What does it take to be a truly great artist? This extraordinary book, full of wisdom, beauty, and generosity of spirit, proves that we can be ‘good’ and also great. Here in your hands is non-fiction at its most marvelous, a book that moved me in ways that the best fiction and poetry does. I’ll sum up my feelings in a word: Exceptional.”
—Susannah Cahalan, New York Times–bestselling author of The Great Pretender
“In Ada Calhoun’s hands, this one-of-a-kind story of a mercurial father, a conflicted daughter, and the artistic idol they both share is marvelously universal — by turns touching and laugh-out-loud funny and endearing and wise. If you are interested in parents or children or New York City or poetry and art — or have ever wondered about the legacies we leave, the lives we touch, without even knowing it — then ALSO A POET offers observations and insights that you'll carry with you for a long time to come.”
—Robert Kolker, New York Times–bestselling author of Hidden Valley Road
“This book is a gift to fans of Frank O'Hara, fans of downtown New York, and fans of queer history. It’s also a gift from one writer to another. The fact that that writer is a daughter paying tribute to her complicated father makes the work all the more resonant and beautiful.”
—Alysia Abbott, author of Fairyland: A Memoir of My Father
"A Vogue Best Book of 2022 So Far. A sweetly personal reckoning with the anxiety of influence... sounds like a pretty heady brew, but Calhoun’s voice is clear and cogent, a winning and personable guide."
"Summer Reading Suggestions: [A] chameleon of a book... Even if you don’t know O’Hara’s poetry (maybe start with “Having a Coke With You”), there’s plenty to appreciate in this memoir."
"Breezy, whip-smart... a scintillating work of personal quest and cultural history."
“ONE OF THE TEN BEST MEMOIRS OF 2017…This frank collection meditates on marriage as an ever-evolving thing, one full of failure and triumph and lots of change… A hilarious relief from the 'happily ever after' narrative.”
“[A] lighthearted approach to the toils and snares of marriage… original, engrossing.”
“Raise a glass to these reality-check essays that are equal parts ode to marriage (“I adore my husband and plan to be with him forever”) and sly acknowledgement to its challenges (“I also want to run screaming from the house because he insists on falling asleep to Frasier reruns”).
O magazine, “10 Titles to Pick Up Now,” June 2017
A Village Voice cover profile of the author declared, “With St. Marks Is Dead, Ada Calhoun just became the most important new voice on old New York.” The paper also called the book the year’s “Best Nonfiction Book About New York.”
Rave reviews from across the country. “Timely, provocative, and stylishly written,” said The Atlantic. “Sophisticated…A delightful book,” wrote The Wall Street Journal. “Nuanced, captivating, and thoroughly fun,” claimed the L.A. Review of Books. Amazoncalled it a Best Book of November 2015. The New York Times Book Review called it “an ecstatic roll call,” and named it a New York Times Editors’ Pick.
One of the best books of the year — Boston Globe, 2015, which earlier in the year wrote in “Fall Suggestions”: “Calhoun makes a case for the enduring relevance and legacy of St. Marks Place, the quintessential downtown street and home to everyone from W.H. Auden to Keith Haring.” Also named one of the best books of the year by Kirkus, Orlando Weekly, and the New York Post.