Hartocollis was born in
Lausanne, Switzerland, and raised in the Potwin neighborhood of
Topeka, Kansas. Her father was
Peter Hartocollis, a Greek psychoanalyst and former director of Topeka's
C.F. Menninger Memorial Hospital. Hartocollis graduated in 1977 from Harvard University with a bachelor's degree in comparative literature where she was a reporter at
The Harvard Crimson. She has twice won the
Front Page Award from
Newswomen's Club of New York. She wrote the book
Seven Days of Possibilities: One Teacher, 24 Kids, and the Music That Changed Their Lives Forever, published in 2004, based on a series of articles published in the
Times. Hartocollis was married to her husband, fellow
Times writer Josh Barbanel, until his death from cancer in July 2021. == References ==