Candace Bushnell

Candace Bushnell is the international best-selling novelist whose first book, “Sex and the City,” was the basis for the HBO hit series starring Sarah Jessica Parker.

With “Sex and the City,” Bushnell captured the country’s attention by breaking down the bedroom doors of New York’s rich and beautiful and exposing the true story of sex, love and relationships. Bushnell’s writing introduced the nation to “modelizers,” “toxic bachelors,” and the women who are looking for Mr. Big as they glide in and out of the star-studded social scene. Bushnell serves as an executive producer of NBC’s “Lipstick Jungle,” an enticing new drama adapted from her best-selling novel of the same name, which follows three high-powered friends as they weather the ups and downs of lives lived at the top of their game. Salon magazine calls Bushnell’s work “ahead of the curve,” and once again, with “Lipstick Jungle,” Bushnell captures the paradigm of a new breed of career women facing modern challenges and choices. Bushnell's own rise to the top and her experiences as a successful single woman in New York City provide the basis for much of her writing. Bushnell moved to Manhattan at the age of 19, and as a New York University undergraduate, began writing about the sizzling Studio 54 scene for a magazine called Night. She went on to become a well-known freelance writer for women’s magazines, developing her humorous trademark style in pieces about dating, relationships, and careers, helping to pioneer a new style of writing that fell into a grey area between journalism and fiction. These pieces were the forerunners of her groundbreaking column, “Sex and the City,” which she began writing in 1994 for the New York Observer. In her second novel, “Four Blondes,” Bushnell gives readers another uncensored look into the mating rituals of the Manhattan elite. In four short stories, Bushnell uses wry humour and frank portrayals of love and lust to deliver clever, hilarious and socially relevant stories. Bushnell's third novel, “Trading Up,” is a wickedly funny social satire about a lingerie model whose reach exceeds her grasp and whose new-found success has gone to her head. The sharply observant, keenly funny, wildly entertaining comedy of manners is Bushnell at her most sassy and entertaining. The New York Times has called Bushnell “The philosopher queen of the social scene.” Bushnell is the winner of the 2006 Matrix Award for books (other winners include Joan Didion and Amy Tan), and a recipient of the Albert Einstein Spirit of Achievement Award. Bushnell was born and raised in the small Connecticut town of Glastonbury and attended Rice University and New York University. She currently resides in Manhattan. Watch Candace's interview