Anna Quindlen
Author Journalist Social Critic
Bestselling author, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, and social critic Anna Quindlen balances the political with the personal, painting a more realistic picture of modern life by placing national affairs side by side with people’s daily lives. Millions of readers have followed her astute perspectives on today’s issues, from family, work, and education to health care, philanthropy, and social justice.
Twelve of Quindlen’s books, including seven of her novels, have appeared on The New York Times Best Sellers list. One True Thing became a feature film starring Renee Zellweger and Meryl Streep. Blessings and Black and Blue were both made into TV movies. Her book, A Short Guide to A Happy Life, sold well over one million copies. It was followed by Being Perfect; Good Dog. Stay, about her beloved black Labrador, Beau; and the novel, Every Last One.
Quindlen’s a memoir on aging, Lots Of Candles, Plenty Of Cake was published in April 2012 and debuted at #1 on The New York Times Best Sellers list. Her latest NYT best seller, Still Life with Bread Crumbs, was released in January 2014 and debuted at #3.
Named one of the top “100 Outstanding Journalists in the United States of the Last 100 Years,” Quindlen began her career at age 18 as a copy girl. She spent three years as a reporter for The New York Post before being hired by The New York Times in 1977. Working her way up The Times’ masthead, Quindlen wrote the “About New York” column, served as deputy metropolitan editor, and created the weekly “Life in the 30’s” column.
In 1990 Quindlen became the third woman in The New York Times’ history to write for its influential Op-Ed page. Her nationally syndicated column “Public and Private” won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1992. Quindlen went on to write the prestigious “Last Word” column for Newsweek for 10 years.
Quindlen serves on the Board of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and is an American Academy of Arts and Sciences Fellow. The Child Welfare League of America established "The Anna Quindlen Award for Excellence in Journalism on Behalf of Children and Families.” She holds honorary degrees from more than 20 colleges and universities and served as the chair of World Book Night US 2012.
Working with Anna Quindlen was a great pleasure. Even in a room of 800 people, you could have heard a pin drop during her speech. We’ve been bombarded with compliments; one even saying people at her table were moved to tears. The Community Foundation of Western North Carolina
Royce Carlton. Inc.866 United Nations Piaza New York NY 10017-1880 1.800. LECTURE 212.355.7700 fax 212.888.8659. email:[email protected] website: www.roycecarlton.com Anna Quindlen
Suggested Topics Women in the 21st Century: The Balancing Act The greatest social revolution in the last 50 years has been the changing status of women, in America and around the world. They now make up more than half of our work force, and dominate medical, law and journalism schools. So why has it been so hard for so many to find a balance between old roles and new ones? A call for a new paradigm--and for a men's revolution in gender roles as well.
Health Care in an Information Age: How Doctors, Nurses and Consumers Can Make One Another Better Fifty years ago doctors talked, and patients listened. Today, with better sources of information and constant concerns about staying healthy, more Americans see themselves as partners in their own care. And since billions are spent on ailments we could cure ourselves through behavior changes, it is the individual who will drive the future of care. Are we ready to be our own health care providers?
Stuff is Not Salvation: The Opportunity For Personal Growth in a Troubled Economy Americans have focused on how to survive this downturn. But what about how to thrive because of it? Some are reappraising the recent past and concluding that many of us consumed instead of living. Is this an opportunity to reassess our priorities, as a nation and as individuals? And will a less affluent America be a happier one?
How Reading and Writing Will Ensure Our Democracy It's no accident that Hitler ordered book burnings. Reading and writing break down the walls between people, and bring down the big lies of demagoguery. That's why a literate United States is a more tolerant and more democratic United States, and why a thirst for words may be the greatest legacy we hand down to our kids.
Royce Carlton. Inc.866 United Nations Piaza New York NY 10017-1880 1.800. LECTURE 212.355.7700 fax 212.888.8659. email:[email protected] website: www.roycecarlton.com Anna Quindlen
Books and Other Works Still Life with Bread Crumbs January 2014 Still Life with Bread Crumbs begins with an imagined gunshot and ends with a new tin roof. Between the two is a wry and knowing portrait of Rebecca Winter, a photographer whose work made her an unlikely heroine for many women. Her career is now descendent, her bank balance shaky, and she has fled the city for the middle of nowhere. There she discovers, in a tree stand with a roofer named Jim Bates, that what she sees through a camera lens is not all there is to life. Brilliantly written, powerfully observed, Still Life with Bread Crumbs is a deeply moving and often very funny story of unexpected love, and a stunningly crafted journey into the life of a woman, her heart, her mind, her days, as she discovers that life is a story with many levels, a story that is longer and more exciting than she ever imagined. (Source: Amazon) Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake Published 2012 It’s odd when I think of the arc of my life, from child to young woman to aging adult. First I was who I was. Then I didn’t know who I was. Then I invented someone, and became her. Then I began to like what I’d invented. And finally I was what I was again. It turned out I wasn’t alone in that particular progression. From Anna Quindlen, #1 New York Times bestselling author and winner of the Pulitzer Prize, comes this irresistible memoir about her life and the lives of women today. Candid, funny, moving, Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake is filled with the sharp insights and revealing observations that have long confirmed Quindlen’s status as America’s laureate of real life. As she did in her beloved New York Times columns, and in A Short Guide to a Happy Life, Quindlen says for us here what we may wish we could have said ourselves. Using her past, present, and future to explore what matters most to women at different ages, Quindlen talks about: Marriage: “A safety net of small white lies can be the bedrock of a successful marriage. You wouldn’t believe how cheaply I can do a kitchen renovation.” Girlfriends: “Real friends offer both hard truths and soft landings and realize that it’s sometimes more important to be nice than to be honest.” Our bodies: “I’ve finally recognized my body for what it is, a personality-delivery system, designed expressly to carry my character from place to place, now and in the years to come. It’s like a car, and while I like a red convertible or even a Bentley as well as the next person, what I really need are four tires and an engine.” Parenting: “Being a parent is not transactional. We do not get what we give. It is the ultimate pay-it-forward: We are good parents, not so they will be loving enough to stay with us, but so they will be strong enough to leave us.” From childhood memories to manic motherhood to middle age, Quindlen uses the events of her own life to illuminate our own. Along with the downsides of age, she says, can come wisdom, a perspective on life that makes it both satisfying and even joyful. So here’s to lots of candles, plenty of cake. (Source: Barnes & Noble)
Royce Carlton. Inc.866 United Nations Piaza New York NY 10017-1880 1.800. LECTURE 212.355.7700 fax 212.888.8659. email:[email protected] website: www.roycecarlton.com Anna Quindlen
A Short Guide to a Happy Life Published 2000 In A Short Guide to a Happy Life, Anna Quindlen guides us with an understanding that comes from knowing how to see the view, the richness in living. Her mother died when Quindlen was nineteen: "It was the dividing line between seeing the world in black and white, and in Technicolor. The lights came on for the darkest possible reason....I learned something enduring, in a very short period of time, about life. And that was that it was glorious, and that you had no business taking it for granted."
Every Last One Published 2010 In this breathtaking and beautiful novel, the #1 New York Times bestselling author Anna Quindlen creates an unforgettable portrait of a mother, a father, a family, and the explosive, violent consequences of what seem like inconsequential actions. Mary Beth Latham is first and foremost a mother, whose three teenaged children come first, before her career as a landscape gardener, or even her life as the wife of a doctor. Caring for her family and preserving their everyday life is paramount. And so, when one of her sons, Max, becomes depressed, Mary Beth becomes focused on him, and is blindsided by a shocking act of violence. What happens afterwards is a testament to the power of a woman’s love and determination, and to the invisible line of hope and healing that connects one human being with another. Ultimately, in the hands of Anna Quindlen’s mesmerizing prose, Every Last One is a novel about facing every last one of the the things we fear most, about finding ways to navigate a road we never intended to travel, to live a life we never dreamed we’d have to live but must be brave enough to try. (Source: Random House)
Royce Carlton. Inc.866 United Nations Piaza New York NY 10017-1880 1.800. LECTURE 212.355.7700 fax 212.888.8659. email:[email protected] website: www.roycecarlton.com Anna Quindlen
Biography
Anna Quindlen’s books have appeared on fiction, nonfiction and self-help bestseller lists, and her columns have won her many of journalism’s most prestigious awards, including the Pulitzer Prize. Her memoir on aging, Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake, was published in April 2012 and debuted at #1 on the The New York Times bestsellers list.
She was the third woman to write for The New York Times' influential op-ed page, where she wrote her award-winning column, "Public and Private," and recently retired from Newsweek, where she wrote her column "The Last Word" for ten years.
Quindlen has written seven bestselling novels: Object Lessons, One True Thing, Black and Blue, Blessings, Rise and Shine, and her most recent, Every Last One, now out in paperback. She has published three collections of her columns, Living Out Loud, Thinking Out Loud, and Loud and Clear, as well as How Reading Changed My Life and Imagined London.
Her book A Short Guide to A Happy Life has sold more than a million copies. It was followed by Being Perfect, another national bestseller, and Good Dog. Stay. (November 2007), her New York Times bestselling book about her beloved black Labrador, Beau. Quindlen was selected as next year's chairperson of World Book Night US. Her latest, Still Life with Bread Crumbs, will be released in January 2014.
Ms. Quindlen is a native of Philadelphia and a graduate of Barnard College, where she was Chair of the Board of Trustees for eight years. She's on the Board of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and holds honorary degrees from more than a dozen American universities.
She is married to Gerald Krovatin, an attorney, and is the mother of Quindlen, Christopher and Maria Krovatin.
Royce Carlton. Inc.866 United Nations Piaza New York NY 10017-1880 1.800. LECTURE 212.355.7700 fax 212.888.8659. email:[email protected] website: www.roycecarlton.com