About
Claire Hoffman is a journalist and author whose work explores religion, culture, power, celebrity in American life. A former staff reporter for the Los Angeles Times and Rolling Stone, she has written for numerous national publications.
Her latest book, Sister, Sinner: The Miraculous Life and Mysterious Disappearance of Aimee Semple McPherson was published in paperback in 2026 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. The non-fiction book chronicles the epic rise and scandalous turn of one of our country’s first mega preachers. The book was named a best book of the year by the Los Angeles Times and was selected as a must-read by The New Yorker, The New York Times Book Review, Alta Journal, and The Millions. It was longlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award.
Her first book, Greetings from Utopia Park: Surviving a Transcendent Childhood, was a reported memoir that examined Claire’s childhood in the Transcendental Meditation Movement and was published by Harper Collins in 2016. Hoffman serves on the boards of the Goldhirsh Foundation, Columbia Journalism School, the Brooklyn Public Library and ProPublica. She lives in California with her family.