Ariel S. Leve

Ariel S. Leve
Born (1968-01-24) January 24, 1968
New York City
Occupation Journalist and Author

Ariel S. Leve (born January 24, 1968) is an award-winning journalist based in New York and London. A senior writer on contract with the London Sunday Times Magazine since 2003, she has written over a dozen cover stories, high-profile interviews, and in-depth, investigative features. Her memoir 'An Abbreviated Life' is published by HarperCollins in 2016.

Early life

Ariel Leve was born in New York City and grew up with her mother in Manhattan. At age five she began traveling to Southeast Asia, where she spent part of the year living in Bangkok, Thailand, with her father. Her early life is the subject of her 2016 memoir 'An Abbreviated Life'.[1]

Career

From October 2005 to January 2010 Leve wrote a weekly column under the title "Cassandra"[2] for the Sunday Times Magazine. Prior to that, the column ran in The Guardian under the title "Half Empty". The Cassandra Chronicles was published in the UK in August 2009 by Portobello Books, and in the US by Harper Perennial under the title It Could Be Worse, You Could Be Me. Leve's television pilot of It Could Be Worse, You Could Be Me was optioned by Cineflix Studios.

Leve's work has appeared frequently in The Guardian. She has contributed to Vogue (UK), Granta, the Evening Standard (UK), Elle, Marie Claire, The Wall Street Journal Magazine, The Jewish Chronicle, The New York Observer, Psychologies, and other publications.

Feature articles by Leve have covered the aftermath of the Virginia Tech shootings, women who guard the women on Death Row, and a series of features on veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Examples of other cover subjects include the Amish and how they discourage the younger generation from leaving the fold; the story of Iraq war veteran Tyler Ziegel and his wife Renee, one year after his return from Iraq, and the toll it took on their marriage;[3] US Marines who have been wounded and the reconstructive surgery they are receiving; demystifying the Chelsea Hotel; a look at the anger management business; a polemic on the importance of listening; the love story of Steve McQueen and his widow, Barbara; what science can tell us about ourselves and how much we really want to know; a profile of Stan Brock, a penniless Brit who is working to solve the US health care crisis; and a cover story which examined what happens to unidentified bodies in Britain told through a six-month investigation tracing the identity of an unknown and unmourned man named Andrew Smith.

Interview profiles have included Mike Nichols, Martin Scorsese, Arthur Miller, Bill Nighy (cover), Tom Cruise (cover), Dan Rather, Quentin Tarantino, Tim Burton, Mickey Rourke (cover), Richard Pryor (cover), Elton John (cover), Christopher Walken, Dustin Hoffman, Jessica Lange, Edward Norton, John Irving, and many others.

From January 2010 until February 2011, Leve wrote "The Fussy Eater"[4] column which appeared in the Observer Food Monthly.

Her 2016 memoir 'An Abbreviated Life' received critical praise from a number of well respected authors including: Gloria Steinem “Sometimes, a child is born to a parent who can’t be a parent, and, like a seedling in the shade, has to grow toward a distant sun. Ariel Leve’s spare and powerful memoir will remind us that family isn’t everything -- kindness and nurturing are.” [5]

John Irving “The staccato style of this searing memoir enhances the harshness and emotional power of what is a frightening story by a brave author, who resolutely describes herself as ‘a long-distance runner through the canyon of childhood’—a modest understatement. An unstinting portrayal of psychological abuse, both insightful and precisely told.” [6]

Richard Ford (writer)“An Abbreviated Life adds a harrowing chapter to the great tragi-comedy called “We Don’t Get To Choose Our Parents.” Ariel Leve’s extremely readable memoir is, at its heart, a story about surviving childhood—a trick we must all perform. Even in its raw extremes, her story is a universal one.” [7]

Awards

She has been shortlisted for the British Press Awards three times: for Interviewer of the Year (2005 and 2010), and for Feature Writer of the Year, (2008). She has been Highly Commended by the British Press Awards twice: for Feature Writer (2008) and for Interviewer of the Year in the Sunday Times Magazine (2010). Leve was named Feature Writer of the Year from the Magazine Design and Journalism Awards (2008).

Books

References

  1. ↑ https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062269454/an-abbreviated-life
  2. ↑ The Sunday Times: Cassandra Final "Cassandra" column.
  3. ↑ The Sunday Times: Tyler Ziegel and Renee, "Tyler Ziegel and Renee: One Year On"
  4. ↑ Observer Food Monthly"The Fussy Eater" column
  5. ↑ https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062269454/an-abbreviated-life
  6. ↑ https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062269454/an-abbreviated-life
  7. ↑ https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062269454/an-abbreviated-life

External links

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