Siracusa (Ephron)

Author Bio
• Born—July 12, 1944
• Raised—Beverly Hills, California, USA
• Education—B.A., Barnard College
• Currently—lives in New York City, New York

Although born in New York City, Delia Ephron was raised in famed Beverly Hills, California, by her screen-writing parents. She was the second of four daughters, the oldest of whom was Nora Ephron (1941-2012).

Ephron attended Barnard College (now part of Columbia University) and after graduation stayed in New York, where she met David Brock at a 1969 Martin Luther King rally in Central Park. The two married and, when Brock was offered a teaching position at Brown University, moved to Providence, Rhode Island. In 1971, using her married name, she co-authored two craft books with Lorraine Rodgers: The Adventurous Crocheter and Glad Rags.

In 1975, the couple split up, with Ephron returning to New York and to her maiden name in order to pursue writing. A humorous 500-word article for The New York Times Magazine, "How to Eat Like a Child," was expanded into a book in 1978. It became a bestseller, and Ephron became a contributing editor for New York magazine—her writing career was launched.

Ephron met Jerome Kasner, a screenwriter and playwright, who taught her how write a screenplay. They fell in love, and Ephron moved with him back to Los Angeles, where she remained for many years—writing books (for kids and adults) and screenplays and producing films—until eventually returning to New York.

And her relationship with her more famous sister, Nora? "Very close," according to Delia. In 1978 She told Judy Klemesrud of The New York Times that Nora was her best friend:

Nora encouraged me. She's always been wonderful. She has looked at my work, and I've looked at hers, too. She's one of the best editors in New York. She'll look at a piece and say just one thing, and the whole piece is better.

The two worked together on many projects. After losing Nora to cancer in 2012, she wrote her 2013 memoir, Sister Mother Husband Dog (Etc.). In an interview, Ephron told Publishers Weekly that she never expected to have to go through life without her sister. "Grief stops you in your tracks, it makes you feel you should move on, but you can’t."  Ephron eventually did move on, of course, and in 2016 published Siracusa, a suspense novel about two families traveling together in Europe.