Falsani, Cathleen 1970-

PERSONAL:

Born September 25, 1970. Education: Wheaton College, undergraduate degree; Northwestern University, master's degree (journalism); Garrett- Evangelical Theological Seminary, master's degree (theological studies).

ADDRESSES:

Office—Chicago Sun-Times, 350 N. Orleans, Chicago, IL 60654. Agent—Chris Ferebee, Yates & Yates, 1100 Town & Country Rd., Ste. 1300, Orange, CA 92868. E-mail—cfalsani@suntimes.com.

CAREER:

Journalist, writer. Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago, IL, religion writer and columnist.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Religion Writer of the Year, Religion Newswriters Association, 2005, for body of work.

WRITINGS:

The God Factor: Inside the Spiritual Lives of Public People, Sarah Crichton Books/Farrar, Straus & Giroux (New York, NY), 2006.

Author of the blog The Dude Abides.

SIDELIGHTS:

Religion reporter Cathleen Falsani was the recipient of the 2005 Religion Writer of the Year award from the Religion Newswriters Association for her body of work. Falsani is also the author of the 2006 nonfiction work, The God Factor: Inside the Spiritual Lives of Public People, a study of thirty-two prominent people, with an emphasis on their spirituality. Falsani profiles such cultural leaders as writers Elie Wiesel, Anne Rice, Studs Terkel, Sandra Cisneros, and Jonathan Safran Foer; singers, including U2's Bono, Annie Lennox, and Melissa Etheridge; filmmakers David Lynch and Harold Ramis; and public policy figures, such as Rev. Al Sharpton.

The diverse group of subjects represent those who are religious as well as spiritual, those who have created their own eclectic spirituality in an amalgamation of Eastern and Western religions, and those who would label themselves agnostics but who preserve an individual spirituality. Falsani's interviews focus on spiritual matters "while satisfying a certain guilty delight in gossip," according to Library Journal reviewer Graham Christian, who also called the work "charming." A Publishers Weekly contributor found The God Factor a "whimsical and absorbing collection of interviews," concluding that the author "handles the profiles with sensitivity, … compassion and grace."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Christian Century, November 1, 2005, "Tim Townsend of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Cathleen Falsani of the Chicago Sun-Times Won the Top Two Reporting and Writing Awards," p. 17.

Library Journal, March 1, 2006, Graham Christian, review of The God Factor: Inside the Spiritual Lives of Public People, p. 94.

Publishers Weekly, January 16, 2006, review of The God Factor, p. 59.

ONLINE

BustedHalo.com http://www.bustedhalo.com/ (August 25, 2006), Bill McGarvey, interview with Falsani.

Thunderstruck Web site, http://www.thunderstruck.org/ (August 25, 2006), Angela Pancella, interview with Falsani.