AUTHOR BIO

Sasha Cagen reading at Litquake October 2005 at Ti Couz Cafe, photo by Derek Powazek

Sasha Cagen is an author, essayist, and serial entrepreneur who builds commmunities around new ideas. She is most well known for coining the term "quirkyalone," a person who prefers singledom to dating for the sake of being in a couple.

Her first book Quirkyalone: A Manifesto for Uncompromising Romantics (Harper San Francisco, 2004), a singles manifesto for a new generation, spawned a holiday, International Quirkyalone Day (Feb. 14), a growing alternative to Valentine's Day that celebrates all forms of love, an online community, and a movement.

Sasha has appeared on the BBC, ANDERSON COOPER 360° on CNN, CNN Headline News, "Countdown with Keith Olbermann" on MSNBC and NPR's "Day to Day." Quirkyalone< received attention in the Albuquerque Tribune, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Australian Cosmopolitan,  Baltimore Sun, Belfast Telegraph, Boston Phoenix, Bust, Detroit Free-Press, Fort Worth Star Telegram, London Observer, London Sunday Times, Miami Herald, Minneapolis Star-Tribune,  Montreal Gazette, Montreal Mirror,  New York Post,  New York Times, Providence Journal,  San Antonio Express, San Diego Union-Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle,  San Jose Mercury News,  Seattle Times, Seattle Weekly,  Shape, South African Cosmopolitan,  St. Petersburg Times,  The Stranger, Syracuse Post-Standard, The Australian,  Time, Time-Out New York, Toronto Star, US News and World Report, and USA Today.

She is the founder of International Quirkyalone Day (Feb. 14), a growing alternative to Valentine's Day that celebrates all forms of love. In 2005, IQD was celebrated in 24 cities, as far away as New Delhi and Sydney. Quirkyalone has been translated in German, Danish, and Portuguese, and was named a finalist in the Books for a Better Life Awards, 2004.

Sasha is the creator of quirkyalone.net, a website that gets tens of thousands of hits on monthly basis and has a highly active online community with thousands of members.

Sasha's second book is To-Do List: From Buying Milk to Finding a Soul Mate, What Our Lists Reveal About Us (Simon & Schuster, 2007), a collection of 100 real, handwritten lists and the stories behind them. She began collecting lists as the founding editor and publisher of To-Do List, a print magazine that used the idea of a to-do list to explore details of modern life, and became fascinated by them because they are such a rare window into our everyday lives--and everything that's on our minds. Among other major recognition, To-Do List was named Best New Magazine of 2000 in Utne's Alternative Press Awards, Reader's Choice. She continued the project on todolistblog.com, a blog that publishes handwritten lists.

Sasha's essays have appeared in the Village Voice, Utne, Men's Health, Women's Health, San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle Magazine, 7 x 7, Bitch, and in numerous anthologies, including A Girl's Guide to Taking Over the World (St. Martin's), The Factsheet Five Zine Reader (Simon and Schuster),  ReGeneration: Telling Stories from our Twenties (Putnam), and Before the Mortgage: True Stories about First Loves, First Jobs, and the Perplexing Pursuit of Adulthood (Simon Spotlight).

Sasha got her start as a writer in the "girl zine revolution," writing about topics ranging from class politics of attending an elite women's college to the taste of grape soda and the fear of being pushed or pushing someone else into the subway tracks. During the mid-nineties in New York, Sasha co-edited a cultishly beloved girlzine Cupsize with her friend Tara Needham.

She is currently at work on StyleMob, a new web community where users give and get style advice and vote on the best looks of the day. Called a "Facebook for fashion" by the New York Daily News and "addictive" by the San Francisco Chronicle, StyleMob is part of the new trend to democratize fashion.

Sasha has led workshops at two of North America's leading retreat centers: Hollyhock, in Canada, and Omega Institute, in Rhinebeck, New York. She has spoken on the growing acceptance of single life at numerous institutions and universities, ranging from San Francisco's Grace Cathedral to Sonoma State University, University of San Francisco, and Boston College.

Sasha teaches Personal Essay Boot Camp for mediabistro.com in San Francisco. She has worked as a communications consultant web 2.0 websites, unions and progressive political organizations.

She co-directed and produced a short movie "How to Start Your Own Holiday," for Current, Al Gore's new cable network.

Sasha attended Amherst College and graduated from Barnard College. A native of Rhode Island, she lives in San Francisco.

Sasha asks you not to call her "the quirkyalone" in public. Like all quirkyalones, she is so much more.

Sasha Cagen and her younger sister Bethany, probably dancing to Annie or Les Miserables; above: official author photo