Molly Brodak

About Molly Brodak

Molly Brodak was an American poet, memoirist, and writer. She was the author of the poetry collection A Little Middle of the Night (2010) and the memoir Bandit: A Daughter's Memoir (2016), which explored her complex relationship with her father, a bank robber. She taught creative writing, appeared as a contestant on The Great American Baking Show, and was known in literary circles for her introspective, often dark work. She had a history of depression dating back to childhood.
She died on March 8, 2020, at age 39 in Atlanta, Georgia (where she lived with her husband, writer Blake Butler). Reliable sources—including Wikipedia, The New York Times obituary, and statements from her husband—confirm her death as suicide by gunshot. She left a suicide note (taped to the door and another on her person), and accounts describe her going to a field, lying down, and shooting herself. This followed a long struggle with mental health issues; her husband later detailed aspects of their marriage and her life in his controversial 2023 memoir Molly, which sparked debate in literary communities about privacy, grief, and posthumous portrayal