Gail Sheehy, one of America’s most distinguished journalists, known for her incisive profiles in the New Yorker and other magazines, died on August 24, 2020 of complications from pneumonia, possibly brought on by Covid-19. She was 83.
One of the founders of the New Journalism, Sheehy’s book, Passages, a kind of road map of life from our twenties to old age, is considered one of the most influential books of the twentieth century.
In this interview with host Richard Wolinsky, conducted at Book Passage bookstore in Corte Madera, California on September 24, 2014, she talks about what would be her final book, Daring: My Passages, which takes us from her days at New York Magazine through her years as a freelance journalist, focusing on the personalities of the people she’s interviewed over the years as well as on her personal life.