Posted Aug. 23, 2004. Updated Aug. 25.
Candace Bushnell, author of the best-selling novel turned award-winning television series "Sex and the City," will speak for the Kennedy Political Union's first event Sept. 2.
KPU Director Emily Fuller hopes that Bushnell will draw a large crowd.
"Everyone loves Sex and the City, and Bushnell should offer a unique perspective for college students ... She should be a fun person to start off the year," Fuller said.
Bushnell is expected to speak about her perspective on being single in a big city, as well as sex, love, and relationships. She will also talk about HBO's "Sex and the City," and its characters Carrie Bradshaw (who represents a person like Bushnell, according to CNN), Miranda Hobbes, Samantha Jones and Charlotte York.
Like Sarah Jessica Parker's HBO character, Carrie, Bushnell had a job as a sex and lifestyles columnist. Bushnell spent her twenties as one of New York's most popular socialites. In the late '70s, one of her favorite haunts was the famed nightclub, Studio 54, according to her encyclopedia.com biography. Then, she got a job at the New York Observer, writing her column "Sex and the City," based on her adventures with friends in New York City.
As a television series, "Sex and the City" has been very successful, winning five Emmy awards and seven Golden Globes since its 1998 beginning. The series final season was nominated for 11 Emmy awards; winners will be announced Sept. 19.
Bushnell has sparked excitement among AU students who aren't normally enthusiastic about KPU events, according to Fuller.
"I'm hoping this will be the start of another successful year ... It's going to be hard to follow such great speakers as Gorbachev and Tutu, but hopefully this year will be full of lots of different people for AU students to enjoy," she said. "One of my goals this year is to expand KPU by bringing in different speakers with lots of different opinions."
Besides "Sex and the City" Bushnell has written the books "Four Blondes" and "Trading Up," both about upper-class women in Manhattan.
The Panhellenic Association and the Student Confederation's Women's Initiative will co-sponsor the event. Fuller said she hopes to "spice things up a bit" by having different groups co-sponsor speakers throughout the upcoming school year.
Bushnell will speak at 8:15 pm in the University Club. The event is free for AU students.
