Karen Stabiner is one of the most respected journalists writing today about health, women’s and family issues. The Empty Nest anthology is the latest of three books she has written about the relationship between parents and their adolescent children, following My Girl: Adventures with a Teen in Training [2005], a finalist for the Books for a Better Life Award, and All Girls: Single-Sex Education and Why It Matters [2002]. My Girl has just been released in paperback, newly-titled Reclaiming Our Daughters: What Parenting a Tween Taught Me About Real Girls. Her landmark book about breast cancer, the New York Times Notable Book To Dance With the Devil: The New War on Breast Cancer [1997], remains a provocative analysis of the relationship between women, their doctors, the research establishment, and the politicians who dispense research funding.
Karen is the author of four other books: The Valentino Cookbook [2001]; Inventing Desire: Inside Chiat/Day; the Hottest Shop, the Coolest Players, the Big Business of Advertising [1993]; Courting Fame: The Perilous Road to Women’s Tennis Stardom [1986], and the novel, Limited Engagements [1979]. She is a regular contributor to The Los Angeles Times’ Opinion section, and her work has appeared in O: The Oprah Magazine, Vogue, The New York Times, Los Angeles Magazine, and The New Yorker.
Her food writing has appeared in Gourmet, Saveur, and Travel & Leisure, and in the anthologies The Best Food Writing of 2002 and The Best Food Writing of 2005. In 2006 she was a finalist for the James Beard Award in magazine writing.
As a result of her widely-read books and articles, Ms. Stabiner is a sought-after speaker at schools, corporations, and women’s organizations and is a frequent guest on national television and radio.
Karen Stabiner was raised north of Chicago and graduated with honors from the University of Michigan. After graduation, she moved to Southern California, where she co-founded The Santa Barbara News & Review, an alternative weekly newspaper, and served as its arts editor and film critic for four years. Once she moved to Los Angeles, she became a contributing editor for Mother Jones and a columnist for New West.
She now lives in Santa Monica, California, with her husband, Larry Dietz, and their seventeen-year-old daughter, Sarah.
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