Dana-Farber employees are on the write track
By Lauren Carr
New publications by Dana-Farber authors include these academic and fictional works.
In addition to leading fruitful lives as caregivers, researchers, instructors, and managers, many Dana-Farber employees are gifted writers as well. Whether they do so for pleasure or to inform, several staff and faculty members have embraced writing in their professional and/or personal lives. Here are highlights from some of the books by DFCI staff published in 2005-06, along with a look at how the authors started their journeys into this creative sideline:
Eugénie Olson
Whether she's producing materials for researchers conducting time-sensitive clinical trials or crafting novels in her off hours, Eugénie Olson is prolific. This spring, Olson – who is managing editor for the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center's Health Communication Core – expects to publish her third novel in three years. Love in the Time of Taffeta, a story about a photographer whose life is not developing as planned and who winds up romantically involved with her boss, is due out this April from Avon Trade.
"I enjoy plotting out a story and creating a world filled with people and places, all from my imagination," says Olson, who began her hobby as an escape. When working on her first novel, she was facing a transition in her life after breaking up with her boyfriend, and she wanted to remember a more enjoyable period – her time spent working in the toy industry.
For a year, she documented "toy memories" on paper and eventually turned those notes into manuscript. She sent out more 100 query letters to literary agents and received a call from one who wanted to represent Olson. The agent sent her story to several publishing houses, and Avon Trade (a division of HarperCollins) signed Olson to a book contract. Her resulting novel, Babe in Toyland, came out in 2004; The Pajama Game, the story of a frustrated teacher who quits and starts working in a lingerie store at the local mall, followed in April 2005.
"The third novel is more grown up," Olson explains. "It deals with more complicated concepts, such as infidelity, integrity, and making difficult choices." Not surprisingly, she has already started on another story – this one aimed at young adult readers.
- Next: Anthony D'Amico, MD, PhD
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