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Andrew Solomon

Author & Journalist Extraordinaire Psychologist & Mental Health Advocate - Panelist Blurb

Andrew Solomon is a writer and lecturer on psychology, politics, and the arts, as well as an activist in LGBT rights and mental health. In 2001 he received the National Book Award for The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression. The book was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and was a worldwide bestseller. His newest book, Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity, is a celebrated exploration of unconventional families and was winner of the 2012 National Book Critics Circle Award.

Far From the Tree tells the stories of parents who not only learn to deal with their exceptional children, but also find profound meaning in doing so. The New York Times Book Review said "It's a book everyone should read, and there's no one who wouldn't be a more imaginative and understanding parent--or human being--for having done so." Solomon spent ten years researching the book, interviewing more than 300 families and generating more than 40,000 pages of notes. President Bill Clinton called the book "remarkable" and Vanity Fair said "Andrew Solomon's empathy, heart, and vast intelligence are in abundance in Far from the Tree."

In addition to winning the 2001 National Book Award for Nonfiction, The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression, was a finalist for the 2002 Pulitzer Prize, and was included in The Times of London's list of one hundred best books of the decade. A New York Times bestseller in both hardcover and paperback editions, The Noonday Demon has also been a bestseller in seven foreign countries, and has been published in twenty-four languages. The New York Times described it as "All-encompassing, brave, deeply humane... a book of remarkable depth, breadth and vitality... open-minded, critically informed and poetic all at the same time... fearless, and full of compassion."

A regular contributor to NPR, The New York Times and many other publications, Andrew Solomon graduated from the prestigious Horace Mann School in New York City cum laude and from Yale University magna cum laude. He also attended Jesus College in Cambridge where he received the top first-class degree, the only foreign student to ever be so-honored.

Beyond his writing Andrew is an outspoken activist and philanthropist for many causes in LGBT rights, mental health, education and the arts. He is founder of the Solomon Research Fellowships in LGBT Studies at Yale University and serves on the board of directors for many national organizations.