Lesley kagen biography channel 7

Lesley Kagen is an American, Milwaukee native, and national bestselling novelist. Her novels are written from the viewpoints of children or young narrators, capturing the "kids' honesty, their unique way of viewing the world, their direct way of talking, [and] their enthusiasm. She worked as a morning drive DJ on an alternative radio station before moving to Los Angeles where she worked at Licorice Pizza record chain, writing, producing, and voicing commercials.

Kagen's career as an actor involved on-air commercials, made-for-TV movies, and an episode of Laverne and Shirley. After meeting her husband and having two kids, Kagen and family moved back to Milwaukee where she became the co-owner of a popular Japanese sushi restaurant, Restaurant Hama, which closed for business in At age 57, Kagen began her career as a novelist.

Her first novel , Whistling in the Dark , published in May is a "coming-of-age thriller set in Milwaukee during the summer of My father did die when I was very young and my mother did get very sick during one summer, and my sisters and I were left with our stepfather who we really didn't know. That trauma and that sense of fear and insecurity that I felt as I child, I think I transferred to Sally," the protagonist of the novel.

Publishers Weekly described Kagen's second novel, Land of a Hundred Wonders , , as a "winsome" story that "offers laughter and bittersweet sighs. Kagen's next novel, Tomorrow River , , was reviewed as "stellar" and "spellbinding" by Publishers Weekly. It was reviewed to be a "spot-on sequel" and claimed "reader's who enjoyed the first book are in for a treat.

Kagen draws upon her experiences in her writing.

Steven Leslie Kagen (born

She has said, "some writers can set their work in a place without having to experience it, but it's very important to me to feel grounded in a story. To have tasted the food, to become part of the culture and know the language of a certain place if I'm going to make it feel authentic. She writes from children's perspectives because, according to her, "it feels natural for me to write in a kid's voice.

Maybe it is because I'm getting older and coming full circle, I don't know.