Emily Frankel biography
Emily Frankel is a dancer, choreographer, director,
playwright (seven plays), novelist and the writer
of the provocative daily blog, Em’s Talkery.
In her romantic, suspenseful works of fiction
("Circle of Ivy," "Heart City," "Karen of Troy,"
"Splintered Heart, "Three Miles East of Rose," and
"Somebody"), Emily Frankel choreographs stories
about strong women in difficult circumstances who
cope valiantly and determinedly to right their
lives.
“My books are fiction, the characters are
invented,” she says. “But the unfolding stories,
the famous people mentioned, the events and the
trivia, are as
accurate and
real as I could
make them
with facts
I’ve been
collecting from
history books,
almanacs, and
the pages of
newspapers
that I’ve been
devouring since
I started
writing, more
than 20 years
ago, about why
I was compelled, all my life, to be somebody --
to be famous and be a normal woman at the
same time.
What I gleaned from hundreds of conversations
with other women gave me the passion to delve
truthfully into all the stuff -- bad and good, sad,
ugly, repulsive, and the courage (because a lot
of it is sexual) to make my journey through
the century as a girl lady woman, in various
disguises, some of them outlandish and not
very comfortable, but always, as genuine
as possible.”
Emily Frankel is a woman of true grit, who has
faced adversity in the most dramatic ways, most
especially when she was in a horrific car crash
that left her almost dead, then threatened to
steal away her gift and passion for dancing with
a terrifying and permanent diagnosis of
paraplegia.
Following the car crash on a snowy road in the mid
west, doctors told her she would never walk again
-- let alone dance!
But surrender is not in Emily Frankel's DNA. With steely
determination, she conquered her paralysis and lived --
not only to dance again, but to triumph!
The crowning glory of her dance career was a
breathtaking showcase -- a 70 minute performance of
Mahler's "Fifth Symphony," at Lincoln Center’s Tully
Hall.
Hers is a story that mimics fiction, but
is very real. That story has been
dramatically chronicled in Teague
Jackson's “ENCORE: The Professional
and Private Triumph of Emily
Frankel."
An honest and gifted writer, Emily
Frankel always features strong, complex heroines
who deal -- sometimes gracefully, sometimes not
-- with the vagaries of life, from love and betrayal to
ambition, loss, and redemption.
Em Frankel's daily blog, "Em's Talkery", offers her
candid and frank take on what's happening in the world
today -- from politics and pop culture to art and
entertainment.
The proud mother of actor-son JD Cullum, Emily
Frankel is "married to a wonderful guy," who also
happens to be a well-known Broadway and television
actor, and two-time Tony-award winner. His name is
John Cullum.
Together, each week, Emily Frankel and John Cullum
record a videocast, in New York City, on Youtube called
“Airbroadcasting.”
Listen to several audible samples read by actor
and Tony-award-winning John Cullum.