Delia Owens
#1 New York Times-bestselling author of Where the Crawdads Sing and wildlife scientist
Gayle Forman
Author of the #1 New York Times bestseller If I Stay
Girls Write Now: “Guest Author Gayle Forman”
Photo credit: Dennis Kleiman
An award-winning, internationally bestselling author and journalist, Gayle Forman's witty, heartfelt talks draw in audiences of all ages with her signature combination of personal anecdotes and quirky, interactive style.
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About Gayle Forman
Gayle Forman is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller If I Stay, a heart-wrenchingly beautiful story that takes a thought-provoking look at life, love, and family. If I Stay is adapted into a hit major motion picture starring Chloe Grace Moretz in 2014 with Forman as an executive producer and writer. She follows up this bestselling and critically acclaimed novel with Where She Went, picking up the story several years after the dramatic conclusion.
Forman is also the author of Just One Day, Just One Year, and the companion e-novella Just One Night. Offering mystery, drama, and an evocative portrait of unrequited love, Forman brings her readers on a whirlwind adventure filled with heart-racing romance in this swoony triology. Her latest novel, We Are Inevitable, is a poignant and uplifting novel about the power of community.
Gayle Forman is an experienced and enthusiastic lecturer who has specially crafted talks for a wide-variety of audiences, including educators, teens and tweens, college students, and library groups. In her lectures, Forman speaks to her own life experiences as well as her craft and the building of a great story.
Forman started her career as a journalist, and her first job was with Seventeen Magazine. Forman has been featured in many national publications including, The Nation, Elle Magazine, Cosmopolitan Magazine and The New York Times. Forman won the 2009 NAIBA Book of the Year Awards and is a 2010 Indie Choice Honor Award winner for If I Stay.
She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband and daughters.
Contact us about booking Gayle Forman for your next event.
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Speaking Topics
Who's Afraid Of The Big Bad Book?
Why are young people drawn to "dark" themes in their books? Gayle Forman explains how dark themes help teens unravel life's big existential questions and how this can benefit educators, who can use these books to kickstart important conversation, or pair these works with more traditional/canonical texts to engage students on deeper personal and intellectual levels. This talk includes specific tips for educators on how best to use these texts/themes in the classroom and suggested pairings/texts.
How To Build A Story
An interactive presentation that uses audience participation to look at the core ingredients of story—premise, conflict, character, and setting, Gayle Forman engages her audience by writing a story together. As the story progresses, the discussion will look at how a narrative is self-generating: the questions it asks of the author eventually propel the book forward. This is a lively, rollicking speech for all ages. At the end, students and educators will be left with the beginnings of a story that they might wish to use as a jumping-off point for classroom work.
Ten Ways I Failed At Life
“Ten ways I screwed up in my life—and how these screw-ups were actually the smartest things I ever did.” Gayle Forman details her life choices, from not going to college until she was 21, to dropping out, to leaving a promising journalism career to travel around the world for a year, to writing a book that seemed unsellable, to walking away from a movie studio deal…the talk will touch on all the times she eschewed the more traditional path, and how it paid off. Touching on her publishing career and her experience as a film producer on If I Stay, this speech is an antidote to the messaging that tells young people that they have to be constantly on-point in order to succeed.
Own Yourself, Own Your Story
Gayle Forman spent a good amount of her twenties and early thirties pretending: pretending to be a kind of writer The New Yorker would hire, pretending to be the kind of person happy at Upper East Side cocktail parties, pretending to like people who, more often than not, made her feel kind of lousy, pretending to be happy when often times, she wasn’t. When she was 34, she wrote her first young adult novel and something started to change. She started to own her voice, own the person she actually was, instead of pantomiming the person she thought she should be. This speech is part craft talk, about finding the truth and authenticity in a story, and part personal history; because for Gayle Forman, it’s impossible to own the story without first owning the person.
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Video
NYT Bestselling author Gayle Forman gives a tour of NYC spots featured in WHERE SHE WENT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7pikV-KuVM
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Praise for Gayle Forman
Praise for We Are Inevitable
A love letter to bookstores and a deftly drawn portrait of the ripples of addiction.
— Kirkus ReviewsBoth a moving story of growing through grief and an ode to the miracle of books and independent bookstores, Forman’s newest is a sincere and affecting volume.
— Publishers Weekly, starred reviewWe Are Inevitable is both hopeful and honest in its portrayal of grief and the struggle to find your way back to yourself. A testament to the healing power of books, friends, and community.
— Margot Wood, author of FreshWe Are Inevitable is a love letter to bookstores, and a bow to the importance of community. It is an understanding of the complexity of grief and an uplifting embrace that tells us we can, no, we will survive. Boy, did I NEED this book – my guess is you do too!
— Heather Hebert, Children’s Book WorldThis story hits hard, right in the book lover feels! We Are Inevitable is full of endearing characters, witty dialogue, and a heart-wrenching, thought-provoking plot that will leave readers inspired and itching to get back to the bookstore. I loved it.
— Christine Riccio, New York Times Bestselling author of Again, but BetterA masterfully layered story about friendship, family, and acceptance with brilliant bursts of Seinfeldian humor zinging throughout. I could’ve stayed up in the Cascades with Aaron and friends for a whole ‘nother book!
— David Yoon, New York Times bestselling author of Frankly in Love and Super Fake Love SongWe Are Inevitable is one of those magical books that reads almost like a modern day fable. I found myself falling in love with the entire cast of characters, and rooting for Aaron all the way through. At its heart, this is a beautifully rendered reminder of the importance of community at a time when we need it most.
— Len Vlahos, Author of Hard Wired and The Scar Boys and owner of Tattered CoverThe fastest way to a girl’s heart is a novel set in a bookstore. I loved We Are Inevitable and its cast of characters (slightly damaged, a little shopworn, but never bargain-basement.) The only flaw: that Bluebird Books doesn’t exist in real life, and I can’t go there to browse.
— Kelly Link, author of Stranger Things Happen, Magic for Beginners, Pretty Monsters, and Get in Trouble and owner of Book Moon bookstoreNo one writes about love like Gayle Forman. Lose yourself in her passionate mash note to rock music, indie bookstores and best of all, the miracles that can happen when you take chances on other people.
— E. Lockhart, #1 New York Times bestselling author of We Were Liars and Again AgainPraise for I Have Lost My Way
A stirring reminder of the great risks of isolation and the immense solace and power that community-even with virtual strangers-can bring.
— Horn Book MagazineAn absolute gem.
— School Library JournalTightly woven and, in places, heartbreaking, this is a masterful exploration of human emotion.
— BooklistThe beloved author returns to the genre that made her famous.
— CosmopolitanStunning doesn’t even begin to say it.
— Kirkus Reviews, starred reviewIn Forman’s wonderfully deft hands, this story of friendship, love, loss and redemption becomes so much more. I Have Lost My Way is a beautifully written love song to every young person who has ever moved through fear and found themselves on the other side.
— Jacqueline Woodson, author of the National Book Award winner Brown Girl DreamingPraise for Leave Me
How do we reinvent ourselves when we can’t even recognize the body we are in? Can you know where you’re headed if you don’t know where you came from? These are the questions faced by the prickly Maribeth, the complex and fascinating character at the center of Leave Me. In her first novel for adults, Forman reminds the reader that the answer to both questions involves getting to the heart of the matter.
— Jodi Picoult, New York Times bestselling author of Leaving TimeGayle Forman is known for her dreamy but hard-hitting young adult novels, including the best-selling If I Stay. With her first foray into grown-up fiction, Leave Me, she doesn’t shy away from the tough questions in this deep-diving and highly entertaining read. It’s hard not to relate to — and root for — Maribeth even as she does the unthinkable: abandons her children.
— Family CirclePopular teen author Forman’s adult debut examines just what it means to be a working mother — beholden to everyone, seemingly obligated to forget who you really are. Maribeth’s search for her birth mother and the way she settles into her new — albeit temporary — life away from home will strike a chord with readers, especially those who enjoy Jennifer Weiner and Meg Wolitzer.
— Booklist (starred)YA author Forman’s successful foray into adult fiction…With humor and pathos, Forman depicts Maribeth’s complicated situation and her thoroughly satisfying arc, leaving readers feeling as though they’ve really accompanied Maribeth on her journey.
— Publishers WeeklyPraise for If I Stay
Forman follows the heroine’s movement, like a bow against the strings of her cello, between the two choices. The author endows the narrative with as much humor as poignancy and lays bare the challenges Mia has encountered in each of her relationships as well as the breakthroughs, leaving readers in suspense until the final bars.
— Shelf AwarenessOriginal and exciting, it is a novel about relationships, life and the people involved in both. The characters are tangibly real, the plot is fascinating and will cause the pages to turn rapidly. Teens and adults will find themselves falling in love with Forman’s stunning novel.
— VOYAForman excels at inserting tiny but powerful details throughout, including the realistic sounds, smells and vocabulary of a hospital, which will draw readers into this masterful text and undoubtedly tug at even the toughest of heartstrings.
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review) -
Books by Gayle Forman
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Media About Gayle Forman
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and Availability
- 212 572-2013
- Gayle Forman travels from New York, NY
Featured Title
We Are Inevitable
“No one writes about love like Gayle Forman. Lose yourself in her passionate mash note to rock music, indie bookstores and best of all, the miracles that can happen when you take chances on other people.” — E. Lockhart, #1 New York Times bestselling author of We Were Liars and Again Again
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