Episode 14: Andrew Neiderman
03/01/22 • 60 min
1 Listener
Andrew Neiderman is perhaps the world’s most prolific ghostwriter, and, the most widely-read. Since 1987, he’s been writing under the pen name of V.C. Andrews, helping to sustain one of publishing’s most successful franchises, following the death of Cleo Virginia Andrews in 1986. Andrews is best-known to millions of readers as the author of Flowers in the Attic, a surprisingly dark family saga that was first published in 1979—a book that now features prominently in many discussions on book banning and cancel culture for its graphic content and its focus on death and imprisonment and incest...not exactly the stuff of school libraries, despite the fact that the book has appealed to young readers for generations.
Neiderman, already an established and widely-published novelist in his own right, was hired by the V.C. Andrews estate to keep writing under name, and he went on to publish over 90 additional titles (including 2021’s The Umbrella Lady and Out of the Rain) with no end in sight. He’s also written nearly 50 books of his own, including The Devil’s Advocate, the basis for the 1997 Taylor Hackford film of the same name, starring Al Pacino, as well as the stage adaptation of “Flowers in the Attic” and numerous screenplays. He is the author of the just-published The Woman Beyond the Attic: The V.C. Andrews Story, a celebration of the life and career of the woman who has been his muse for more than 35 years.
Learn more about Andrew Neiderman:
Please support the sponsors who support our show.
- Misfits Market (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order
- Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discount
- Libro.fm (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membership
- Wizard Pins (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount
Andrew Neiderman is perhaps the world’s most prolific ghostwriter, and, the most widely-read. Since 1987, he’s been writing under the pen name of V.C. Andrews, helping to sustain one of publishing’s most successful franchises, following the death of Cleo Virginia Andrews in 1986. Andrews is best-known to millions of readers as the author of Flowers in the Attic, a surprisingly dark family saga that was first published in 1979—a book that now features prominently in many discussions on book banning and cancel culture for its graphic content and its focus on death and imprisonment and incest...not exactly the stuff of school libraries, despite the fact that the book has appealed to young readers for generations.
Neiderman, already an established and widely-published novelist in his own right, was hired by the V.C. Andrews estate to keep writing under name, and he went on to publish over 90 additional titles (including 2021’s The Umbrella Lady and Out of the Rain) with no end in sight. He’s also written nearly 50 books of his own, including The Devil’s Advocate, the basis for the 1997 Taylor Hackford film of the same name, starring Al Pacino, as well as the stage adaptation of “Flowers in the Attic” and numerous screenplays. He is the author of the just-published The Woman Beyond the Attic: The V.C. Andrews Story, a celebration of the life and career of the woman who has been his muse for more than 35 years.
Learn more about Andrew Neiderman:
Please support the sponsors who support our show.
- Misfits Market (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order
- Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discount
- Libro.fm (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membership
- Wizard Pins (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount
Previous Episode
Episode 13: Bruce Weber
Bruce Weber has led a rich and varied writing life. He has been a fiction editor, a magazine editor, a national arts correspondent and theater critic, and a metro reporter...oh, and for good measure, a ghostwriter.
For many years, he wrote obituaries, weighing in with the final word on more than 1,000 notable deaths, which in his hands sprang from the page like notable lives, well and purposefully lived. Attentive listeners might recognize his voice, which was featured prominently (along with the rest of him) in the acclaimed 2016 documentary “Obit,” from director Vanessa Gould, which shined compelling light on the men and women on The New York Times obit desk.
A look back at his career reveals a writer with a gift for sharing other people’s stories in a way that is truly his own. “I don’t think it’s self-aggrandizing to say that obituary writing is important work,” he wrote in an op-ed piece upon his retirement from the paper of record in 2016. “An obituary is, after all, the first last word on a life, a public assessment of a human being’s time on earth, a judgement on what deserves to be remembered.”
Before his retirement, Bruce found the time to write a couple of books of his own, including the best-selling As They See ‘Em: A Fan’s Travels in the Land of Umpires, and Life is a Wheel: Memoirs of a Bike-Riding Obituarist, as well as a book in collaboration with the dancer and choreographer Savion Glover (Savion! My Life in Tap). He is currently at work on a biography of the writer E.L. Doctorow.
Learn more about Bruce Weber:
Please support the sponsors who support our show.
- Misfits Market (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order
- Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discount
- Libro.fm (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membership
- Wizard Pins (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount
Next Episode
Episode 15: Eugene Pack
Eugene Pack knows a thing or two about what it takes to write a compelling celebrity memoir – and yet he’s never actually written one. As the creator and co-producer of the hit theatrical revue “Celebrity Autobiography,” developed with Dayle Reyfel, he has pushed audiences to consider what it means to live a book-worthy life and how it is that readers have come to accept the wit and wisdom and worldviews of our most celebrated personalities when they are presented on the page.
The show has been staged in theaters all over the country, including runs on Broadway, on London’s West End, and at the Sydney Opera House, with guest performers such as Kristen Wiig, Lily Tomlin, Mandy Patinkin, Paul Rudd, Billy Crystal, Maya Rudoph, Whoopi Goldberg and Martin Short helping to give hilarious voice to the so-called insights and dubious reflections of the famous and infamous. “Celebrity Autobiography” was awarded a Drama Desk Award for “Unique Theatrical Experience” when it debuted in New York to rave reviews, and it continues to delight audiences all over the world, drawing on an ever-changing slush pile of source material and an ever-evolving cast.
An accomplished playwright, Pack’s short original comedies are featured on his uniquely-imagined and endlessly-entertaining podcast, “The Pack Podcast,” performed by an assortment of talented actors, with proceeds going to the Actor’s Fund, an organization that provides a safety net for performing artists and entertainment professionals. His full-length plays include “Columbus and Amsterdam,” “Sharpies” and “The Poets of Amityville,” as well as the autobiographical musical “To Be Loved,” written in collaboration with Motown founder Berry Gordy. Pack is also an Emmy-nominated writer and producer, and the creator and executive producer of CMT’s longest-running series, “Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders: Making the Team.”
Please support the sponsors who support our show.
- Misfits Market (WRITERSBONE) | $15 off your first order
- Film Movement Plus (PODCAST) | 30% discount
- Libro.fm (ASTOLDTO) | 2 audiobooks for the price of 1 when you start your membership
- Wizard Pins (WRITERSBONE) | 20% discount
If you like this episode you’ll love
Episode Comments
Featured in these lists
Generate a badge
Get a badge for your website that links back to this episode
<a href="https://goodpods.com/podcasts/as-told-to-246003/episode-14-andrew-neiderman-27885137"> <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/badges/generic-badge-1.svg" alt="listen to episode 14: andrew neiderman on goodpods" style="width: 225px" /> </a>
Copy