Anna Konkle on 'The Sane One': From 'Pen15' to Her Father's Story and Motherhood

Anna Konkle, best known for her role in the Hulu series Pen15, is now diving deeper into her past with her new coming-of-age memoir, The Sane One. The book examines her complicated relationship with her father, including their estrangement, reconciliation, and his untimely death.

In an interview with TheWrap, Konkle explained how Pen15—which she co-created with Maya Erskine—only scratched the surface of her family’s story. “I remember during ‘Pen’ there was the repeated question: ‘How close to reality was the ‘Pen15′ version of my parents?’ Being autobiographical in their fighting. And I would always say, ‘It’s them, but it’s the tip of the iceberg,’” she said.

Konkle revealed that while Pen15 blended comedy and realism, The Sane One allows her to explore the darker, more brutal layers of her family’s history. “Tonally, there’s intersection. There’s laugh-out-loud comedy, genuinely, and absurdity and the weirdness of human beings; how we’re all posing,” she explained. “But the rawness and brutality that’s in there was just going to be more conducive to a book, and I didn’t want to shy away from it.”

The author sought feedback from her family while writing the memoir. “I sent it to just about everybody who I still have a relationship with, the chapters they’re in, just to give an opportunity if they have a different memory and to make sure they feel comfortable being included,” she shared. “For the most part, people were very, very supportive.”

Konkle’s mother, who struggled with the book’s content due to her late husband’s absence, ultimately supported her daughter’s artistic vision. “My mom definitely struggled at times, with my dad not being here, of being like, ‘OK, this is a lot of information from him that he’s not here to approve,’” Konkle said. “But he did say, before he passed, ‘Write it all,’ which was really kind. And my mom, too. I know she’s not looking forward to it in all the ways, but she’s like, ‘This is your art and this is your memory, and hopefully some other people feel less alone.’”

Motherhood has also influenced Konkle’s perspective on her memoir. She welcomed her daughter, Essie, in early 2021 with partner Alex Anfanger. “It made it really scary to finish it, in some ways,” she admitted. “I pitched it when I was pregnant, and then after I had her, I had a feeling of frustration with myself, of, ‘Why do I want to keep going back? What is this obsession?’”

Konkle questioned her own sanity while revisiting her past but ultimately embraced the project as her truth. “Like, how sane are you if you’re just cycling about the past all the time and living in it?” she reflected. “I think when she was born, there was a feeling of, let