She is the author of The London Cookbook and Eat. Cook. L.A., both published by Ten Speed Press/Random House.  Her work has been anthologized, most notably in Best American Food Writing, and her essays may be found in most of the major magazines, including Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, Saveur, Elle, Marie Claire, Departures, Town & Country and Travel & Leisure and, online, in Food52, The Daily Beast and Narrative.   Her new book Gâteau will be published by Scribner/Simon and Schuster and will be on sale in September of 2022. 

Aleksandra also writes extensively on beauty, design, restaurants and travel for The Wall Street Journal and major magazines.

Film and Television

Aleksandra began her film career working for luminaries Frederick Wiseman, David Mamet and Mike Nichols.  Her day job while finishing graduate school was field producing one-hour TV specials for Martha Stewart (CBS) and as a long-form story producer for ABC news.  Her thesis film at N.Y.U. won a Cine Golden Eagle and was seen internationally at festivals.  Aleksandra has written screenplays for Fox Searchlight, Focus Features, Miramax, Participant Productions, FineLine, NewLine, Harpo, and, in France, for Vendome, and, in the U.K., for Ealing Studios and Recorded Picture Co.  She has written for wonderful producers such as Nick Wechsler, Claudia Lewis, John Lyons, Anne Carey, Stanley Tucci and Barnaby Thompson.  She was a story advisor on Pavel Lungin’s Queen of Spades.

Aleksandra is currently scripting a film that takes place in the wine world of Bordeaux for MRC Entertainment and producer Elizabeth Cantillon (Persuasion, Charlie’s Angels).  She is attached to write the adaptation of All Four Stars for Ray Mansfield and Sean McKittrick (Get Out, Black KkKlansman.)  And, with John Burnham Schwartz, she is creating Halfway House for Sarah Timberman of Timberman-Beverly Productions (Masters of Sex, Seal Team.)

 Consulting

Aleksandra consults in the food space in the U.S. and the U.K. advising restaurants, start-ups and investors, and, pro-bono, on issues of sustainability, climate change and green sourcing.  Most recently, she helped real estate giant Tishman Speyer rethink the restaurants at Rockefeller Plaza and The Spiral.  Previously, she curated and signed the chefs, as well as consulted on strategy, for the food-tech start-up Wonder, the brainchild of Marc Lore, which raised $500 million in initial seed money.  (Lore previously started Jet.com, Diapers.com and was CEO of Walmart e-commerce.)  She has consulted for entrepreneur Cindy Palusamy and as an advisor on impact investments for Amy Wolf of River Hollow Partners.  For a full list, including pro-bono work, please contact Aleksandra directly.

 Boards

Aleksandra is on the board of Naturally New York.  She has also served on the impact board of tryHungry and on the board of Bubbles, now a part of Edible Schoolyard.  She is a member of the Founder’s Circle of The Sun Valley Writers Conference.

 Representation

Aleksandra is represented for books by Eric Simonoff at William Morris Endeavor, and for movies and television by Sandra Lucchesi at The Gersh Agency.  Andrew Hurwitz at Frankfurt Kurnit is her attorney.

  Personal

Aleksandra grew up in New York, London and Paris.  She is married to the novelist and screenwriter John Burnham Schwartz.  They live with their son, Garrick, in New York City.

Education 

Aleksandra is a graduate of Harvard College and the M.F.A. Program in Film at N.Y.U.

 Teaching  

She has taught screenwriting in the M.F.A. Program at N.Y.U., as well as at The New School.

 Food Writing

During the Writer’s Guild strike of 2007, Aleksandra began writing the food column for The New York Times Magazine and, what began as a temporary aside, turned into a full-fledged side career.  Ruth Reichl then asked her to write for Gourmet, and her essays for the magazine led to Aleksandra receiving the M.F.K. Fisher Award for Distinguished Writing from the James Beard Foundation.  When Gourmet shuttered, she was approached by The Wall Street Journal, where, for the last twelve years, she has written the food column, A Little Something Sweet, while also covering cooking, food sustainability and wellness/food and health.