Brian Platzer is the critically acclaimed author of the novels The Optimists (Little, Brown), Bed-Stuy Is Burning and The Body Politic (both Atria/Simon & Schuster), as well as the parenting book Taking the Stress Out of Homework (Avery/Penguin Random House). 

He has written frequently for The New York Times, NewYorker.com, New York Magazine, The New Republic, and many other publications.

As a novelist, Brian has toured the country discussing the craft of writing as well as the issues at the heart of his work, such as education, gentrification, chronic illness, relationships, and American politics.

As a humor writer, Brian has frequently written for The New Yorker’s Shouts and Murmurs and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency.  He recently wrote the viral article “Paw Patrol Is Contemptable Trash”; in New York Magazine, and he has performed comic essays on NPR as a featured guest on Live From Here.

As an educator, Brian currently teaches 8th and 12th grade English at Grace Church School in Manhattan, having previously taught literature and writing at Johns Hopkins. Brian is a CNN contributor on education, and wrote, with Abby Freireich, the weekly “Homeroom”; column in The Atlantic as well as various articles on study skills for the New York Times.

Brian is also the co-founder with Abby of Teachers Who Tutor|NYC, New York City’s only tutoring company where all the tutors are classroom teachers with master’s degrees.

Together, Brian and Abby are among the city’s leaders in education-consulting, tutoring, and executive function coaching.

Brian suffers from chronic dizziness and has written a series of essays for the New York Times chronicling his experiences and those of fellow sufferers. Brian is a graduate of Grace Church School, Dalton, Columbia, and Johns Hopkins University.

He currently lives in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn with his sons and his brilliant wife, Alex Hardiman.

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