"Jane Ganahl is not only a keen observer of single life - she's also a champion of it. In her critically acclaimed column, Single-Minded, Ganahl sings the praises of flying solo by reminding readers that their unmarried status allows them to have more room in the tub during bubble baths, buy the flowers they really like and do exactly what they want to do, when they want to do it. 'Yes, the world is finally catching on to the fact that middle-aged doesn't mean dead or even dormant,' she writes in a recent piece. 'I think for many, what comes next is a more fulfilling life - where being single is not considered a problem to be fixed.'"
– MSN.com “The Singles Folks’ Hall of Fame” (9/19/2006)
Jane Ganahl has been a journalist, humorist, author, consultant, editor and community organizer in San Francisco for 25 years. She is the author of the novelized memoir, “Naked on the Page: the Misadventures of My Unmarried Midlife” (Viking), which is in development for a TV series. Of her book, Elle magazine wrote: "[Ganahl's] dating escapades are daring and delicious, but also emotionally profound."
She is also the editor of the acclaimed 2005 anthology, “Single Woman of a Certain Age: 28 Women Writers on the Unmarried Midlife,” which will be re-released by New World Library in May 2009. Of the collection, the Hartford Courant wrote: “This collection of essays show the writers know plenty about love -- how it works, when it works, when it doesn't and why it's not always the be-all and end-all of a woman's emotional life. Growing older solo is fraught with challenges – but also with opportunities.”
Ganahl has been a journalist for almost three decades, most of that time with San Francisco newspapers, covering everything from City Hall to pop culture. During her final five years at the Chronicle she penned the “Single Minded” Sunday column about the unmarried life; it served as the backdrop for her memoir. For her outspokenness, MSN.com named her to its Singles Hall of Fame, noting: “Jane Ganahl is not only a keen observer of single life - she's also a champion of it.”
As an expert in the field of single life, Jane has chaired panels at San Francisco’s Commonwealth Club, at writers conferences, and at marketing seminars. She has also appeared on numerous TV programs, including “The Today Show,” and innumerable radio shows, from Sirius network to NPR. There is currently a proposal in the works for Ganahl to have her own radio show about single life.
Her work can now be found regularly on Huffington Post and Match.com; she has also contributed to Harper’s Bazaar, Ladies’ Home Journal, Harp, Parenting, Book, Salon.com and Rolling Stone.com. She has been awarded by the Society of Professional Journalists for her work.
In addition to editing “Single Woman of a Certain Age,” Ganahl has contributed essays to four other anthologies: “The Single State of the Union,” “The Secret Lives of Lawfully Wedded Wives,” “Roar Softly and Carry a Great Lipstick,” and the upcoming “The Face in the Mirror: Writers Reflect on Their Dreams of Youth – and the Reality of Age” (Prometheus, Sept. 2009).
In what little spare time she has, she co-directs Litquake, a ten-year-old festival of Bay Area literature that annually draws close to 500 writers and thousands of book fans; organizes The Last Supper, a nine-year-old monthly dinner salon for creative San Franciscans; dotes on her grown daughter; owns cats because it’s part of the uniform; and dates occasionally, but not desperately.
Contact Jane:
Jane.ganahl@gmail.com
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