Donadio was born on October 22, 1929, in
Brooklyn, New York City. Her parents were immigrants from Sicily. After some time, Donadio convinced the literary magazine
New World Writing to accept the first chapter, which increased Heller's confidence in the work. In interviews, Donadio claimed that the number was changed to her birthday as a gesture, though Robert Gottlieb rejected that narrative entirely as "lying" in his 2016 autobiography. Donadio helped negotiate the sale of his first book,
Goodbye, Columbus to
Houghton Mifflin, boosting the publisher's advance offer from $1,000 to $2,500 by leveraging a counteroffer from
Viking Press. Donadio served as Roth's agent from 1958 until 1972. While representing him, she notably negotiated large publishing and film rights contracts for ''
Portnoy's Complaint.'' In a 1972 letter after firing her as his agent, Roth wrote that "unlike Portnoy, I have no complaints," though biographer
Blake Bailey speculates that her "very mothering" style and Roth's "general aloofness" had worn on the relationship. After Jaffe sold his agency in 1961, Donadio moved to
Russell & Volkening, where she worked until 1968. Donadio's namesake agency ran for more than 20 years after her retirement and 17 years after her death, when it filed for bankruptcy in 2018. The company's bookkeeper of 20 years, Darin Webb, was sentenced to two years in prison later that same month, for embezzling 3.4 million dollars from the agency. In 1984, Donadio sold 120 letters written by Pynchon to herself between 1962 and 1983 to
Carter Burden for $45,000 via Santa Barbara book dealer
Ralph Sipper. Donadio resided in
Stonington, Connecticut. She was diagnosed with cancer in 1995, and she died on January 20, 2001. ==References==