Sara Davidson

...best-selling novelist, journalist, radio host and former television producer; author of LEAP: What Will We Do with the Rest of Our Lives? (Random House, 2007), a book of reflections from the Baby Boomer Generation

Sara Davidson first captured America's imagination with her international best seller, Loose Change, about three women growing up in the Sixties. In her many articles, books, TV shows and radio interviews, she's earned a reputation as a social observer who does cutting edge pieces about the way we live.

In her latest book, LEAP!, she interviewed nearly 200 Boomers (famous and not-so-famous) and questioned them about the new life phase, “THE NARROWS”, that describes “the rough passage to a different phase of life”. Telling her own story along with the inspiring narratives of others, she offers a clear and realistic picture regarding the potential futures of millions of boomers.

Sara grew up in California and went to Berkeley in the Sixties, while participating in the cultural revolution. At Berkeley, she was also elected to Phi Beta Kappa, majoring in English and writing for the Daily Cal. After graduation, she headed for New York to attend the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. Her first job was with The Boston Globe, where she became a national correspondent, covering everything from the election campaigns of Bobby Kennedy and Richard Nixon to the Woodstock Festival and the student strike at Columbia.

Returning to New York, she worked as a free-lance journalist for publications as varied as Harpers, Esquire, The Atlantic, The New York Times and Rolling Stone. She was one of the group who developed the craft of literary journalism, combining the techniques of fiction with rigorous reporting to bring real events and people to life. Her work is collected in the textbook, The Literary Journalists, by Norman Sims.

In 1975, Sara moved back to California where for the next 25 years she alternated between writing for television and writing books. Her books tend to fall in the gray zone between memoir and fiction. Sara uses the voice of the intimate journalist, drawing on material from her life and that of others and shapes it into a narrative that reads like fiction. Her most famous works are the previously noted international success, Loose Change (1977), Real Property (1980), Friends of the Opposite Sex (1984), Rock Hudson, His Story (1987) and Cowboy (1999).

In television, she created two drama series, "Jack and Mike," and "Heart Beat," which ran on ABC. "Heart Beat" was the first ensemble of women on television who had no male boss above them, and featured the first lesbian character (inspired by a real medical group in Santa Monica). She was later co-executive producer of "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman," wrote hundreds of hours of drama episodes, movies and miniseries, and in 1994 was nominated for a Golden Globe.

She's been a guest on national television shows such as "The Today Show," "Larry King Live", “Good Morning, America” and "Sixty Minutes," and has done commentary on public radio.

In the year 2000, her life began to unravel. She was divorced, her children were leaving for college and she couldn't find work in television. Following her intuition, knowing nobody, she drove to Boulder, Colorado for three months to be a visiting writer at the University of Colorado. She never drove back, and has settled in Boulder, piecing together a different life which she has written about in LEAP!

Radio has been a source of rebirth for her. She fell in love with the medium and began to develop techniques for what she calls "The art of the interview." Basically, she says, “a great interview tells a story, and there's a point when you hit gold--the subject starts thinking and saying things he or she hasn't said before. The interchange comes alive; it's as if the quality of the air changes, and the listener is reluctant to leave the car or turn off the set”. Since moving to Colorado, she has continued to host interviews on KGNU in Boulder.

In addition to interviews and public speaking, her other current passions are skiing with the Masters Race Team and hiking in the Rockies.

Suggested Speech Topic:
NAVIGATING “THE NARROWS”:
What Will We Do With The Rest Of Our Lives?

For more information on LEAP!; articles by and about Sara; links to her blog; and, other assorted good things, please click here! or www.saradavidson.com

Sara Davidson is available for speeches and seminars exclusively through Tony Colao, at MasterMedia Speakers Bureau.

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