Lauren Kessler

Lauren Kessler is an American author, and immersion journalist who specializes in narrative nonfiction. She is also a professor at the University of Oregon where she directs the Writing Initiative in the School of Journalism and Communication.

Kessler is the author of seven works of narrative nonfiction including Counterclockwise: My Year of Hypnosis, Hormones and Other Adventures in the World of Anti-Aging and My Teenage Werewolf: A Mother, A Daughter, A Journey Through the Thicket of Adolescence. Her book, Dancing with Rose (renamed Finding Life in the Land of Alzheimer’s in its paperback edition), won the Pacific Northwest Book Award and was named a Best Book of the Year by Library Journal. Her Oregon Book Award-winning book, Stubborn Twig, was chosen to be the book all Oregon reads in celebration of the state’s 150th birthday. She is also author of Washington Post best-seller Clever Girl: Elizabeth Bentley, the Spy Who Ushered in the McCarthy Era, a biography of Elizabeth Bentley, and the Los Angeles Times best-seller and Oregon Book Award finalist The Happy Bottom Riding Club, a biography of aviator Florence Pancho Barnes. David Letterman, in playful competition with Oprah, chose The Happy Bottom Riding Club as the first (and only) book for “Dave’s Book Club.” Kessler appeared on his show twice.

Kessler's journalism and essays have appeared in The New York Times magazine, The Los Angeles Times Sunday Magazine, O Magazine, Ladies Home Journal, Woman’s Day, Prevention, newsweek.com, salon.com, The Nation and Writer's Digest. She is a national speaker and workshop leader.

Kessler blogs about the hope and hype of anti-aging at counterclockwsebook.com.

Education

• Ph.D., University of Washington, 1980
• MS, University of Oregon, 1975
• B.S.J., Northwestern University, 1972

External links

• Official website of the author
• An extensive 2007 Q&A on her most recent books
• Oregon Art Beat: Author Lauren Kessler