Alexandra Ares is a Romanian-American novelist, playwright, screenwriter, essayist, and drama critic. Born and bred in Bucharest where she'd worked as a television producer/director and occasionally host for the national broadcast network and earned a Ph.D. in American drama, she changed her life completely when she moved to New York City and started writing autofiction about the boho life. She is best known as the author of the first indie novel in the world on online dating, "My Life on Craigslist" (with several editions, 2009-12). She is also the author of the novel "Dream Junkies" where she was amongst the first to write about the decay of the American dream and way of life after 9/11, albeit in a mostly humorous tone, the literary novella "The Other Girl," and the essays "Manhattan Chronicles". As a playwright, her collection of plays was published by the Romanian Academy of Arts and Science, and the production of her three-act epic drama "Waking Beauty" was nominated for the UNITER Awards, the most prestigious Romanian theater prizes. She writes entertaining yet thought-provoking fiction that runs the entire gamut from commercial to literary and from satirical to tragic, and she hates to be pinned down to any particular genre. Each of her books is different, but none are politically correct. She won four indie awards and finalist titles, some of her books were best sellers, presented in book clubs, and some are still waiting for a great publisher. If you haven't done it yet, go get her E-books and books online!
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On AMAZON and BARNES & NOBLES as a Paperback and in all Digital Formats.
Award-winning editions with a new cover!
A funny, razor-sharp satire of today's wildest mores brazenly unleashed on Craigslist! A casualty of the financial crisis, alone and with nothing, a New York girl starts to live vicariously through America's most insane website where she quickly runs into trouble.
Award-Winning Finalist of USA Book News! (Los Angeles)
Award-Winning Finalist of Readers Favorite International Awards. (Miami)
Midwest Book Review Top Reviewers' Choice | Recommended by US Review of Books and Pulishers Weekly!
An Amazon Best Seller in the Humor Category.
Meet Emily Thompson, 25, wholesome, quirky, with a keen eye for contemporary art. One year after she moves to the trendy East Village in New York City, where she lands a job in an art gallery and an artist boyfriend, her life is thrown in an uproar when she loses everything. Suddenly alone, Emily starts to live vicariously through Craigslist and her mis education begins. A roommate who is rarely home, turns out to be an escort, which makes Emily get on her high moral horse, but later, when Emily herself becomes an escort for a day things spiral out of control…A book about survival in dog-eat-dog New York City in a unique blend of angst and humor. More...
“Rakishly entertaining! So much of what occurs is beautifully tied up! I adored it! The Apatow movies don't do better! This book is a D- flawless diamond, small but utterly perfect! Monique Raphel High, best-selling novelist
"Written cleverly and on par with a top Hollywood screenplay, this is a great story about city life..." US REVIEW OF BOOKS
THE OTHER GIRL is a bare, slim, literary novel written in a minimalistic style and telling the story of a conversation. Life does this switching trick, giving you hope from one place, and satisfaction from another. Maxim Smirnov, a young Russian immigrant in New York dreams of becoming the next software billionaire like Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg and of moving in with his gorgeous girlfriend. In the meantime, he has no home of his own and sleeps like a gypsy on chairs and in his office. When his lover is reluctant to take him in, he ends up moving in with an older Italian girl Giordana Gatti, a reclusive film animator with a powerful personality and feminist ideas that clash with his macho upbringing. She is "the other girl" in more ways than one, and guards an old, secret, unrequited love story. How will her fierce spirit and masochistic passion reflect on his own future choices?
"Evokes Proust, Philip Roth, and Somerset Maugham," Amazon reviewer, Paris
"This is a gorgeous, delicate, full-bodied book, and it is wonderful." San Francisco Book Review
Book of The Year Award Finalist 2012 (BOTYA) from ForeWord Reviews
Kitty
Roman, a downcast Manhattanite, and Desert Rose, an ebullient Brooklynite, go
on a trip full of mishaps and adventures on the West Coast, where one doggedly
chases her dream and the other accidentally finds hers. A page turner where
comedy and self-irony blend with wonderful lyrical interludes, Dream Junkies,
offers the reader a "deconstructed" view of the battered American
Dream.
Funny,
fresh, and heartbreaking, Dream Junkiestells
the tales of creative expats and longing exiles, unwise women and straying men,
and the double-edged power of their dreams.
"Very entertaining." Publishers Weekly
"Another character-driven story from Alexandra Ares, filled with her distinctive twists and unusual points of view. Recommended for readers tired of the same old, same old rom-coms and dramedies." Amazon Vine Reviewer
MANHATTAN CHRONICLES is a fun, quirky, and provocative blend of musings on sex, love, relationship and other challenges at the dawn of the 21st century. This satirical foray into the hearts and minds of New Yorkers includes: Are Men Going To Become Redundant? Men of A Certain Age, Is America Better Off Promiscuous, Holla Touch Tone Governance, The Art of Warghanistan, The Juno Effect vs. The Moonstruck Affect, Spiritual or Not Spiritual, The Age Of Savage Reviews, and May I Buy You Dinner?
The collection of essays explores New York' City's mating habits and other quirks from the perspective of a European in New York, Alexandra Ares, the founder of the literary website with the same name. Each column in this book was first published in the Manhattan Chronicles website, between the fall of 2009 and the fall of 2012.
The title of this book is a tribute to Motel Chronicles, the iconic short story collection by Sam Shepard.
"Manhattan Chronicles" is told from a woman's point of view and most men may oppose the views presented in the book but still, it is an enjoyable read for everyone because the balance between humor and skepticism is just perfect."
WAKING BEAUTY is a modern tragedy, a social vaudeville, and indirect a political play with an absurd and neo-feminist touch, coming from the tradition of Bertolt Brecht’s Three Penny Opera, Wendy Wasserstein’s Heidi Chronicles and David Hare’s Amy’s View. An atypical play that will take you on an unconventional journey in time, space, theater styles, and performance techniques.
The play tells the of a young, beautiful Eastern European woman, Onda, starting right after the fall of communism and ending up in New York. It is about the changing aspirations and power of women in the last 20 years. The play revolves around the dynamic between Onda and her changing choices as a woman, from innocence to lust, sin, and redemption. It explores the power, traps, and limits of Beauty that we all love, crave, and some are ready to kill for. (Bonus feature: The Park, a short play)
"I would like to strongly recommend the play Waking Beauty by Alexandra Ares, be considered for development and production… I read the play. There is a woman's voice here I haven't heard before, a window on to another cultural sensibility. I believe this voice deserves encouragement.”JohnPatrickShanley, Academy Award Winner for Best Original Screenplay (Moonstruck) and Pulitzer Prize Winner for Drama (Doubt.)
"A very brave piece of writing" Ed Shockley, award-winning playwright (Stephen Sondheim Award, Richard Rogers Award & PEW)
Apr. 19, 2013 - Dream Junkies reviewed in the Ardent Reader.
Apr. 17, 2013 - Release of the new short story Shifting Trophy.
Apr. 16, 2013 - Dream Junkies is featured in the Romanian Book Review, issued by the Romanian Cultural Institute.
Mar. 27, 2013 - Manhattan Chronicles received a five star review from Readers Favorite. Read the entire article here.
Mar, 21, 2013 - My father, playwright Dinu Grigorescu, launches today a drama book in French translation in Paris and he represents me by proxy at the Paris Book Fair. French editors click here for my info sheet.
Mar. 11, 2013 - Dream Junkies announced Award-Winning Finalist of the Book of the Year 2012 by ForeWord Reviews.
Febr. 2013 - My Life on Craigslist was featured in Readers Favorite.
Oct. 24, 2012 - My Life on Craigslist translated to Romanian has been in the top 10 for ebooks for 20 weeks in a row.
Oct. 1st, 2012 - Alexandra Ares featured in Flacara newsmagazine.
Sept. 1, 2012 - Alexandra Ares was featured in Elle and Cosmopolitan (Romania) September Issue.
Aug. 2, 2012 - Viata mea pe net (My Life on Craigslist) is presented at the Elle Romania Book Club.
June 26-29 2012 - Alexandra is invited to be the daily guest (Monday through Friday) of the Romanian Cultural Radio's show "Vorba de Cultura" (Culture Talk) from 12 to 1 pm hosted by Ema Stere. (101.3 MHz in Bucharest). The interview will also be live on the internet on www.cultural.srr.ro / www.radiocultura.ro
June 15, 2012 - Alexandra was admitted as a professional member of Pen American Center, the leading literary organization with members like Toni Morrison and Woody Allen. (www.pen.org/alexandraares)
June 10, 2012 - Viata Mea Pe Net(My Life on Craigslist version in Romanian) for 3 weeks in a row in the top 10 paperback best seller list.
June 4, 2012 - Alexandra Ares receives a gold medal for The Other Girl at a reception at the Plaza Hotel in New York at the kick-off of Book Expo America 2012. (More...)
May 9, 2012 - TheOther Girlannounced Winner in the Novella category of the 2012 Next Generation Indie Book Awards.
May 1, 2012 - Interview in the print edition of THE ONE, one of the leading glossy magazines in Romania.
Apr 20, 2012 - Article and Interview in the Weekend Magazine of the leading Romanian financial journal (national) Ziarul Financiar.
Apr 1, 2012 - Viata Mea pe Net(the Romanian translation of My Life on Craigslist) is recommended by the April's issue of Cosmopolitan Magazine in Romania.
Febr 23, 2012 - MY LIFE ON CRAIGSLISTis published in translation in Romanian as VIATA ME PE NET at the leading publishing house in Romania, Polirom, in the Chic collection, featuring authors like Helen Fielding, Candace Bushnell and Lauren Weisberger. The media partner for the launch is the national monthly glossy magazine TABU.
Febr 20, 2012 - VIATA MEA PE NET(My Life on Craigslist) featured as the best book pick on the book blog of Andreea Marin Banica (the most famous TV and humanitarian personality of Romania, also a long time UNICEF Ambassador of Peace).
Jan 2012 - MY LIFE ON CRAIGSLIST was selected on Midwest Book Review's Reviewers' Choice foe 2012.
Nov. 1, 2011 - My Life on Craigslist is announced Best Books Award Finalist by USA Books in Los Angeles California.
Nov. 1, 2011 - The November Issue of the Romanian glossy magazine TABU included Alexandra in the Top 25 of the most famous Romanian women living abroad, ranking her on the 12's place.
Aug. 30, 2011 - Signed contract with Polirom Publishing Housein Bucharest, Romania for the publication in translation of MY LIFE ON CRAIGSLIST, slated to appear in the spring of 2012.
Febr. 25, 2011 - Listen to the radio interview with Michael Dresser on the DresserAfterDark show.
Febr. 24, 2011 - MY LIFE ON CRAIGSLIST was selected in the first cut of the AMAZON BREAKTHROUGH NOVEL AWARD 2011.
August 2008 - BUCHAREST - The first novel of Alexandra Ares, DREAM JUNKIES was translatedin Romanian by Larisa Copaceanu and published by the top publishing house in Romania, Eu, Polirom (www.polirom.ro) as VISATOARELE in a literary Romance collection featuring bestselling works by Sheila O'Flanagan, Ellen Feldman, Esther Freud, Brunonia Barry, Freya North, and Mauve Haran. The book was in the top three bestseller list for 5 weeks and was the bestseller of the week for both fiction and non fiction in the first week of August 2008. BUY HERE
Zeynep Nutku translated the play Waking Beauty by Alexandra Ares into Turkish for representation at the
State Theater in Istanbul.
August 2010 - BUCHAREST, ROMANIA
The premiere of a three one act plays show, The Men Store (Magazinul cu Barbati) at the Calderon Theater in Bucharest, directed by Mihai Popescu. Cast: Doina Ionescu, Alexandra Minghius, Gabriela Ionita and Alexandru Larion. A book with the same title containing short plays by Alexandra Ares was also launched.
A funny, razor-sharp satire of today's wildest mores brazenly unleashed on Craigslist! A casualty of the financial crisis, alone and with nothing, a New York girl starts to live vicariously through America's most insane website where she quickly runs into trouble. 
Winner of Best New Indie Novella Award 2012
WAKING BEAUTY is a modern tragedy, a social vaudeville, and indirect a political play with an absurd and neo-feminist touch, coming from the tradition of Bertolt Brecht’s Three Penny Opera, Wendy Wasserstein’s Heidi Chronicles and David Hare’s Amy’s View. An atypical play that will take you on an unconventional journey in time, space, theater styles, and performance techniques. 
June 4, 2012 - Alexandra Ares receives a gold medal for The Other Girl at a reception at the Plaza Hotel in New York at the kick-off of Book Expo America 2012. 
August 2008 - BUCHAREST - The first novel of Alexandra Ares, DREAM JUNKIES was translatedin Romanian by Larisa Copaceanu and published by the top publishing house in Romania, Eu, Polirom (
September/October 2009 - NEW YORK 
July 2010 - ISTANBUL, TURKEY
August 2010 - BUCHAREST, ROMANIA
