PETER HEDGES is a novelist, playwright, screenwriter, and film director.

Hedges’ first novel What’s Eating Gilbert Grape was the basis for the 1993 film, which he also wrote. His other novels are An Ocean in Iowa (1998) and The Heights (2010).  His novels have been published in 22 languages. Hedges’ screenplay adaptations include Jane Hamilton’s A Map of the World and Nick Hornby’s About a Boy, for which he received a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar® nomination.

Hedges made his feature film directorial debut with Pieces of April, starring Katie Holmes, Patricia Clarkson, and Oliver Platt. The acclaimed film garnered numerous awards, including an Academy Award® nomination for Clarkson. Following the film, Variety named Hedges as one of the 10 Directors to watch in 2003.

Hedges directed and co-wrote Dan in Real Life (2007) for Touchstone Pictures / Focus Features. It starred Steve Carrell and Juliette Binoche. He wrote and directed The Odd Life of Timothy Green (2012) for Disney. It starred Jennifer Garner and Joel Edgerton and featured Dianne Wiest and Lin-Manuel Miranda. Hedges’ wrote and directed Ben is Back (2018), which starred Julia Roberts and Lucas Hedges. Ben is Back was the Opening Night film of the Austin Film Festival in 2018.

Hedges’ most recent film The Same Storm features a cast of 24 actors including Elaine May, Sandra Oh, Mary-Louise Parker, Noma Dumezweni, Moses Ingram, Rosemarie DeWitt, Ron Livingston, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Alison Pill, Joshua Leonard, and Judith Light. The Same Storm had its World Premiere at the Telluride Film Festival last month.

Hedges has taught at Yale University, Bennington College, and University of North Carolina School of the Arts. He has served as a Creative Advisor to the Sundance Screenwriters’ Lab and has been awarded residencies at the Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony, and the Millay Colony.

A 1984 graduate of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Hedges founded the Edge Theatre in 1985 along with Mary-Louise Parker and Joe Mantello. Over a three-year period, he wrote 12 works for the company. His other plays include “Baby Anger” (Playwrights Horizons), “Good as New” (Manhattan Class Company / South Coast Rep), “Imagining Brad” (Circle Rep), and “The Girl in Pink” (Atlantic Theater Company).

Hedges grew up in West Des Moines, Iowa. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, the poet Susan Bruce. They have two sons, Simon and Lucas, and two dogs, Willy and Sadie-Goat.