Marisa Acocella Marchetto

Marisa Acocella Marchetto is the author of the New York Times best-selling graphic novel Ann Tenna, the graphic memoir Cancer Vixen, and Just Who the Hell is She, Anyway? Marchetto is also a cartoonist for The New Yorker, whose work has appeared in The New York Times, Glamour, and O, The Oprah Magazine.

Marisa Acocella Marchetto grew up in New Jersey. She now lives with her husband, restaurateur Silvano Marchetto, in New York City.

In 2006 Knopf released Marchetto's graphic memoir, Cancer Vixen: A True Story, about her 2004-2005 battle with breast cancer. Details in the memoir include her seeking cancer treatment without health insurance, which she had allowed to lapse. Cancer Vixen was one of Time’s top ten graphic memoirs.

Ann Tenna, released in September 2015 by Knopf, is a New York Times Best Selling graphic novel about an influential gossip columnist who has a near-fatal accident, and is brought face-to-face with her higher self, who challenges her to change her life for the better. Marchetto has said that having a life-threatening breast cancer diagnosis informed the story arc of Ann Tenna.

In March 2013, it was announced that HBO Films with Maven Pictures will produce a film adaptation of the book. Julie Delpy has adapted Cancer Vixen and will direct.

Marchetto has donated a portion of her Cancer Vixen royalties to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and is the founder of The Cancer Vixen Fund, which has funded free mammograms for uninsured women in New York City. Currently, the renamed Marisa Acocella Marchetto Foundation funds free integrative therapies and free cold capping for women to prevent hair loss from chemotherapy at the Mount Sinai Dubin Breast Center and the Mount Sinai Beth Israel Comprehensive Cancer Center, where the Foundation also supports a complete empowerment program that includes yoga, Chi Qong, journaling, exercise, meditation, and nutrition. The Foundation's mission is "No breast left behind."