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Marion Winik  

Award-Winning Author, Humorist and NPR Commentator

Marion Winik is an award-winning columnist, renowned humorist, NPR commentator, and the author of six books of creative nonfiction. Her latest book is Highs in the Low Fifties: How I Stumbled Through the Joys of Single Lliving (Globe Pequot Press), a memoir of her attempt to rebuild her world and find new love as a once-widowed, once-divorced single mother. A professor in the MFA program at the University of Baltimore, Winik was the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Creative Non-Fiction and has been inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters. She has appeared on the Today Show, Politically Incorrect and Oprah.

Known for her hilarious, yet redemptive, takes on topics from parenthood, divorce and dating, to death and loss, to memoir and the writing life, Winik is a sought-after keynote speaker. Winik has spoken at a variety of venues, including New York’s 92nd St. Y, Brown University, Conde Nast Advertiser’s Retreat, Dallas Arts and Letters Live, multiple Jewish Book Network events, National Midwives Meeting, the Paramount Theatre in Austin, and the Woodstock Writers Festival.

Winik’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” column appears bi-weekly at BaltimoreFishbowl.com — it was voted “Best of Baltimore 2012” by Baltimore Magazine. Her essays and articles have been published in The New York Times Magazine, O, Salon, Real Simple, More, The Utne Reader, The Baltimore Sun, to name a few. Her 15 years of commentaries for All Things Considered are collected on the npr.org website. Winik’s other books include Telling (Random House); New York Times Notable Book First Comes Love (Random House, 1996); Child magazine’s “Best Parenting Book of the Year” The Lunch-Box Chronicles (Random House); Rules for the Unruly (Simon and Schuster); Above Us Only Sky (Seal Press), and The Glen Rock Book of the Dead (Counterpoint), one of More magazine’s “Ten Best Books of 2008.” She has also published two books of poetry, Nonstop and Boycrazy.
For many years, she was the Answer Lady advice columnist for Ladies’ Home Journal.

Winik is a graduate of Brown University and the Brooklyn College MFA program. She lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

Speech Topics


An Evening with Marion Winik

Rules for the Unruly: Seven Secrets of an Unconventional Life (Commencement Speech)

The Ethics of Memoir: How to be a Good Writer AND a Good Friend

Don’t Sweat the Chicken Soup: Relaxation Therapy for Modern Parents

Diseases 'n' Me: AIDS Widow, Hep C Poster Child, Amateur Kevorkian; Inspiration and Humor for Life’s Toughest Challenges

Highs in the Low Fifties: How I Stumbled Through the Joys of Single Living – And How You Can Too

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