Jeanne Marie Laskas

Jeanne Marie Laskas is an American writer, journalist, and professor, and author of the book, Concussion (2015).

Career

Laskas is the author of seven books, including Concussion. The book is based on her 2009 GQ article “Game Brain" about forensic pathologist Bennet Omalu, who tried to publicize his findings of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in American football players despite NFL opposition. The article was also adapted by Laskas and screenwriter Peter Landesman into a film of the same name, starring Will Smith as Omalu. Laskas' other works include Hidden America (2012), Growing Girls (2006),The Exact Same Moon (2003), and Fifty Acres and Poodle (2000).

Formerly a contributing editor at Esquire, and a weekly syndicated columnist (“Significant Others”) at The Washington Post Magazine, Laskas has been writing for national magazines for 20 years, with work appearing in The New York Times Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, O: The Oprah Magazine, and Allure. She also wrote "Ask Laskas" in Reader's Digest and the "My Life as a Mom" column for Ladies' Home Journal. Her GQ piece about coal miners, “Underworld,” was a finalist in feature writing for the 2007 National Magazine Awards.

Laskas' work has been widely anthologized, including in The Best American Magazine Writing 2008 ("Underworld") and The Best American Sportswriting 2000, 2002, 2008, 2010 ("Game Brain"), and 2012. Her earliest essays and features are compiled in The Balloon Lady and Other People I Know (1996).

Laskas directs The Writing Program at the University of Pittsburgh, where she also teaches creative writing. Most of her current work appears in GQ, where she is a correspondent.

Bibliography

• Concussion, nonfiction (New York: Penguin Random House, 2015). ISBN 978-0812987577
• Hidden America: From Coal Miners to Cowboys, an Extraordinary Exploration of the Unseen People Who Make This Country Work, nonfiction (New York: Penguin, 2012). ISBN 978-0399159008
• Growing Girls: The Mother of All Adventures, nonfiction (New York: Bantam Dell, 2006). ISBN 0-553-80264-X
• The Exact Same Moon: Fifty Acres and a Family, nonfiction (New York: Bantam Dell, 2003). ISBN 0-553-38149-0
• Fifty Acres and a Poodle: A Story of Love, Livestock, and Finding Myself on a Farm, nonfiction (New York: Bantam Dell, 2000). ISBN 0-553-38015-X
• We Remember: Women Born at the Turn of the Century Tell the Stories of Their Lives in Words and Pictures, (editor), with an introduction by Hillary Rodham Clinton, nonfiction (New York: Morrow, 1999). ISBN 0-688-15863-3
• The Balloon Lady and Other People I Know, nonfiction (Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 1996). ISBN 0-8207-0266-8

External links

• Author's website
• Laskas' writing at GQ magazine