Maria Semple (born 1964) is an American writer. Her father, Lorenzo Semple, Jr., was a screenwriter who wrote the pilot of the Batman television series in the 1960s. She was raised in Spain, Los Angeles, and Aspen, Colorado. Semple graduated from Barnard College in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts in English and began her writing career in 1992, screenwriting for the television series Beverly Hills, 90210, Mad About You, and Arrested Development. She has also written for The New Yorker. She has written three novels: This One Is Mine (2008), Where’d You Go, Bernadette (2012), and Today Will Be Different (2016). She currently lives in Seattle with her partner, producer and writer George Meyer, and her daughter, Poppy.

Semple’s most notable work, Where’d You Go, Bernadette, shares many similarities to Today Will Be Different. The respective protagonists, Bernadette and Eleanor, are both successful women who struggle with boredom, depression, and other problems after moving to Seattle. Both characters have emotionally distant husbands and precocious children who are determined to connect more with them. Furthermore, Semple uses observational humor in both novels to create a balance between comedy and drama.