Leslie Brody
Author Interview - Leslie Brody
Author of SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO LIE: The Life and Times of Louise Fitzhugh, Renegade Author of Harriet the Spy
“Harriet the Spy, first published in 1964, has mesmerized generations of readers and launched a million diarists. Its beloved antiheroine, Harriet, is erratic, unsentimental, and endearing—very much like the woman who created her, Louise Fitzhugh. In SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO LIE: The Life and Times of Louise Fitzhugh, Renegade Author of Harriet the Spy (Basic Books; December 1, 2020), biographer Leslie Brody shares the lively story of the beloved children’s book author who was a progressive, anti-racist, transgressive, smoking and drinking lesbian who believed in the radical power of art. “
Author Interview - Leslie Brody
Author I draw inspiration from: Jessica Mitford. I love her work and the way she lived her life. She never stopped writing, never stopped having fun, never really ever stopped, just ended.
Author Interview - Leslie Brody
Favorite place to read a book: 6am Café on the Mediterranean with a cappuccino and croissant. Otherwise, lounging anywhere with an unimpeded view of a large body of water.
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with: Madame De Sévigné. Madame De Sévigné Selected Letters. Penguin Classics.
Author Interview - Leslie Brody
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author: I was around eight when my father secretly submitted my prose poem “A Walk Up the Capital Steps,” for publication in his NYC Union 65 (Garment District) newspaper. The piece was pure red diaper baby utopianism. They published it (my byline was Leslie, Steve Brody’s daughter). My parents were proud, and I was hooked.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook: Hardback
The last book I read: Loitering With Intent by Muriel Spark
Author Interview - Leslie Brody
Pen & paper or computer: Computer
Book character I think I’d be best friends with: Athena –Homer’s Illiad
Author Interview - Leslie Brody
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a: I’d like to play a singing lawyer on a long running TV show. That would combine all my career ambitions: musical theatre, law and politics and receiving a generous salary.
Favorite decade in fashion history: Edwardian. So flattering for all ages!
Place I’d most like to travel: As I am writing this in lockdown I will say in order of realistic expectations: restaurant, hair salon, down the road, Hawaii, Paris.
My signature drink: Single malt scotch, 1 ice cube.
Favorite artist: Louise Fitzhugh
Number one on my bucket list: Finding a cure for Covid.
Author Bio: Leslie Brody is a playwright, journalist and well-regarded biographer known for revealing the stories of delightfully complicated feminists in modern history, including Jessica Mitford (Irrepressible, 2010) and Louise Fitzhugh (Sometimes You Have to Lie, 2020). Leslie Brody‘s memoir Red Star Sister received the PEN Center USA West Award in 1998. For over twenty years, Brody has taught Creative Nonfiction in the Creative Writing Department at the University of Redlands.
