Nancy G. Brinker, Founder of Susan G. Komen for the Cure®, the Global Leader of the Breast Cancer Movement, to Write Inspirational Memoir

Release provided courtesy of Broadway Books

View video of Ambassador Nancy G. Brinker discussing her upcoming book  

August 3, 2009 - NEW YORK - Nancy G. Brinker, the Founder of Susan G. Komen for the Cure®, the world’s largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists, has reached agreement with Broadway Books, an imprint of The Crown Publishing Group at Random House, to write an inspirational memoir scheduled for publication in October 2010.

As yet untitled, Ambassador Brinker’s book will tell the story of two sisters, Nancy and Suzy, their loving bond from childhood through adulthood, the cancer that took one sister’s life and threatened the other’s, and the passionate promise made that has gone on to transform, and save, the lives of millions of women and to raise billions of dollars for cancer research and community outreach.

Diane Salvatore, Vice President and Publisher, Broadway Books, acquired world English, first serial, audio, and electronic book rights from Dorian Karchmar of William Morris Endeavor Entertainment, who represented Ambassador Brinker in negotiations.

Ambassador Brinker ignited the global breast cancer movement 27 years ago by promising her sister Susan G. Komen, who died at age 36 of the disease, that she would put an end to the shame, pain, fear and hopelessness caused by breast cancer. In 1982, with a handful of dedicated friends, Ambassador Brinker founded Susan G. Komen for the Cure in her sister’s memory. A year after creating the organization, she started the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure®, the most successful fundraising and education event for charity ever created. Additionally, she pioneered cause-related marketing, which has enabled millions of people from all walks of life to join the fight against breast cancer. To date, Komen for the Cure has played a role in every major advance in breast cancer and is now the world’s largest source of nonprofit funds dedicated to the fight against breast cancer.

On August 12, President Obama will award Ambassador Brinker the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In May 2009, Ambassador Brinker was appointed as World Health Organization (WHO) Goodwill Ambassador for Cancer Control. In 2008, she was included in Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People,” and that same year President George W. Bush appointed her to the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees. She served as the United States Ambassador to Hungary from 2001 to 2003 and as U.S. Chief of Protocol from 2007 to 2009.

Said Ambassador Brinker, “I am humbled by the opportunity to tell this story on behalf of my sister and everyone whose lives have been touched by breast cancer. As we look ahead to a coming global cancer tsunami, I hope our story will inspire others while reminding them of the urgent need to continue to fight to win the war against this devastating disease.”

Said Diane Salvatore, “Nancy Brinker is a visionary, a global change agent whose unwavering focus and dual sense of outrage and optimism has fueled one of the most dramatic advancements and achievements in medicine ever seen, which has been to rob breast cancer of its power to shame and its unchecked power to kill. We are honored to bring her remarkable story to the attention of a broad readership, which we know will be moved, awed, and inspired on so many levels by how powerful the promises we make to those we love, and to ourselves, can truly be.”

The book will be written with Joni Rodgers, a critically acclaimed novelist and author of the memoir Bald in the Land of Big Hair, in which she recounted her own experience with cancer. Ms. Rodgers has previously collaborated on several bestselling memoirs, including the New York Times bestseller A Little Bit Wicked by Kristin Chenoweth.