By KAMNI KHAN
Executive Editor
Although she is known
for highlighting the fast-paced lives of NYC’s elite, author Candace
Bushnell will get a glimpse of a small college town when she visits Rider on
Thursday, March 14.
Bushnell, the
42-year-old force behind HBO’s hit series Sex and the City, is reclaiming
the market for the light-haired crowd with The New York Times’ bestseller
Four Blondes. She will promote her latest work in the Student Center Theater.
“The
significance of her coming to Rider is to show us how a woman can become famous
because of her sexuality,” junior Carla Mancuso. “It teaches us to
be comfortable with our own thoughts and feelings.”
The novel, published
in 2001, gives an insight into the lives of Manhattan’s elite and the
quest for love and lust. The four main characters share their views in their
individual novellas.
One of the heroines
of Four Blondes is Janey, a model who aspires for yearly May to September
romance with somebody who owns property in the prestigious Hamptons. Cecelia,
the stunning bulimic social climber, has been compared to the late Caroline
Bisette Kennedy. Winnie is a prominent media personality who is married, while
Grasshopper ultimately gives up on NYC men and hopes to find a partner in
London.
With art imitating
life, Bushnell also has residences in NYC and London, which is the home of her
boyfriend of two years.
A native of Glastonbury, Conn., Bushnell
transferred to New York University from Rice University in the hope of
jumpstarting her acting career.
Bushnell’s
writing career started with her “Sex and the City” column in the
New York Observer, eventually inspiring the show, about four NYC women and
their daily ordeals with sex and shoes, that has become a household name.
“It is fun and
refreshing because you get to see women talk openly about subjects that are not
acceptable on television,” said Michelle Doherty, an English major.
“It shows that we are becoming more accepting of women’s
sexuality.”
Bushnell has also
been a contributing writer for Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Ladies Home
Journal, Self and Mademoiselle. Bushnell has been interviewed for The New York
Times, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Time, People, Entertainment Weekly, Elle
and Mirabella. She hosted VH1’s Sex, Lives and Videoclips and was a guest
on The Charlie Rose Show, Primetime Live and Later Day.