Biography

Gail Sheehy is an icon of American journalism, a sought-after speaker and groundbreaking pioneer for women. She is the author of 17 books. Her landmark work, “Passages,” was named one of the most important books of our time by Library of Congress. Today, she’s a woman on a mission to redefine how millennials are understood by their parents, employers, and one another. In her newest project, #MillennialWorld, Gail has been hanging out with young people at Burning Man, nightclubs, and workplaces and reporting on the game-changers who are rewriting the rules between men and women, devising new strategies to delay marriage and family, and pioneering new passages.

Passages remained on The NYTimes Bestseller List for more than three years and has been reprinted in 28 languages. Gail revisits the stages of adult life in five other books on the passages theme and illuminates our predictable crises: Understanding Men’s Passages, The Silent Passage (menopause); Sex and the Seasoned WomenPassages in Caregiving, and Pathfinders.

As a literary journalist, Sheehy was one of the original contributors to New York magazine and has been a contributing editor to Vanity Fair since 1984.  She has covered national and world leaders and broken many cultural taboos. Culminating a decade of following Hillary Clinton for Vanity Fair, she wrote the biography, Hillary’s Choice. She has written about the character and psychology of national and national leaders from Robert Kennedy to both Presidents Bush to Barack Obama, and world leaders from Margaret Thatcher to Egypt’s Anwar Sadat to Saddam Hussein. She is a seven-time recipient of the New York Newswomen’s Club Front Page Award for distinguished journalism and three-time winner or finalist for National Magazine Awards.  In 2013, she was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by Books for a Better Life.

Passing 70, Sheehy decided it was about time she turned the lens on herself. She wrote a memoir about her own passages. The book is DARING: My Passages, published by William Morrow, an imprint of HarperCollins. It inspires young women to dream big, take risks, outlive early failures, and build toward success with meaning and social purpose by midlife.

             Reviews of DARING: My Passages

“Daring is an inspiring portrait of a resilient woman who fought hard to live an authentic life, and won.”

—More.com

“Ardent, approachable, forthright, and empathetic, Sheehy’s memoir of a life lived in the center of her time’s most defining moments beside its most influential characters is a riveting account of one woman’s exhilarating trajectory, a page-turning, powerhouse testament to resilience, perseverance, and hope.”

Booklist (starred review)

“Gail Sheehy dares to examine her own passages with the same insight, fearlessness, and compassion she brought to her groundbreaking journalism. Through adversities and triumphs alike, she demonstrates the grit and courage it takes to outlast life’s challenges.”

Arianna Huffington, author and former president of Huffington Post