In this exclusive audio interview Emmy Winner Charlotte Robinson host of OUTTAKE VOICES™ talks with author Joshua Lyon about Edie Windsor’s memoir “A Wild And Precious Life” published by St. Martin’s Press. Lyon began collaborating with Windsor before her passing in 2017 and completed the memoir with cooperation from Edie’s spouse Judith Kasen-Windsor who provided Edie’s extensive archive of personal papers dating back to the 1940s. “A Wild And Precious Life” shares intimate fascinating details of Windsor’s personal life, career pursuits and loves from her adventures in Greenwich Village lesbian bars in the 1950s while pursuing a master’s degree in mathematics at NYU to her extensive work at IBM as well as her activist awakening and epic love affair with Thea Spyer. Edie met Spyer in the 1960’s whose Dutch Jewish family had fled the Nazis and went on to become a successful clinical psychologist whose work was crucial during the AIDS crisis counseling our LGBTQ community. Their partnership lasted 44 years until Thea’s passing in 2009. With the federal government refusing to acknowledge their Canadian marriage Windsor was then required to pay $363,053 in federal estate taxes on her wife's estate which led to the 2013 Supreme Court case United States v. Windsor that successfully overturned Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act leading to marriage equality becoming the law of the land in 2015. Edie found love again marrying Judith Kasen-Windsor in 2016 who stated, “With irreverent and unexpected stories this memoir chronicles the struggles and passions that drove her extraordinary life. It’s an important part of her legacy, a gift to all who will continue her message of hope, strength and courage. Edie proved that love does, in fact, win.” We talked to Joshua about what he hopes to accomplish with this book and his spin on our LGBTQ issues.
Joshua Lyon is an American journalist and the author of “Pill Head: The Secret Life of a Painkiller Addict”. He has ghostwritten several New York Times bestselling memoirs for celebrities and LGBTQ icons and activists. Lyon stated, “Collaborating with Edie was the most thrilling and humbling experience of my career. I’m so excited for the world to learn even more about this fiercely intelligent and wildly funny woman, a true lover and fighter who continues to inspire.” The title of the memoir “A Wild And Precious Life” comes from a line in the poem “A Summer Day” by Mary Oliver which Hillary Clinton quoted in her eulogy for Edie.
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