Joan Mellen

Joan Mellen (; September 7, 1941 – June 30, 2025) was an American writer and professor of English and creative writing.

Early life and education Mellen was born in the Bronx in 1941. Her father was a lawyer.

She completed her undergraduate degree at Hunter College in 1962. She received a doctorate in English from the City University of New York.

She was the author of a number of books. Her early work in the 1970s was about film. In the following two decades, she wrote many biographies, while continuing to publish work about film.

Striking out in a different direction, in 2005, Mellen wrote a book about the Kennedy assassination, criticizing the Warren Commission investigation. Other books on mid-century political events followed. She published a memoir in 2024.

Personal life

She married James Mellen in 1966. They divorced in 1967. In 1969, she married Ralph Schoenman. They divorced 13 years later, but remained friends until he died in 2023.

Mellen died on June 30, 2025, at home in Pennington, New Jersey, at age 83.

Books