Cathleen Falsani is the religion columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, where, since 2000, she has covered her diverse “God beat” from locations as far a field as Vatican City, Vedic City, Ireland, Germany, the Caribbean, the West Wing, the Playboy Mansion, and the dugout at Wrigley Field. She was honored as the 2005 James O. Supple Religion Writer of the Year by the Religion News Writers Association, and was a finalist for the 2007 Templeton Religion Reporter of the Year award (she took Second Place.) Her first book, The God Factor: Inside the Spiritual Lives of Public People (Farrar, Straus & Giroux), was released to critical acclaim, and The Christian Science Monitor named it one of the best non-fiction books of 2006. Zondervan will publisher her next two books, Sin Boldly: A Field Guide for Grace (fall 2008) and The Dude Abides: The Gospel According to the Coen Brothers (April 2009). She has given talks across the country at universities, religion conferences, and literary festivals.
Falsani began writing her popular weekly column on spirituality and popular culture for the Chicago Sun-Times in 2001, and in March 2007 added her byline to the roster of columnists at Religion News Service and The Huffington Post as well. Her work has appeared in Rolling Stone, Christianity Today and Christian Century magazines, as well as the Chicago Tribune, Kansas City Star, Madison Capital Times, and many other newspapers across the nation. She has appeared as a commentator on CNN, Fox News Channel, NPR, WGN-Radio, The Tavis Smiley Show, and a number of other radio and television venues. A television show based on her adventures on the religion beat, titled “God Girl,” is in development. She is also popular in the blogoshpere with her site “The Dude Abides,” (http://falsani.blogspot.com).
A Connecticut native, Falsani is a graduate of Wheaton College, the alma mater of the Rev. Billy Graham, former U.S. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, and horror film director Wes Craven. (Though, admittedly, she usually finds more common ground with Craven and Graham than Hastert.) She holds a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University as well as a master’s degree in theological studies from Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. She has also been a Gralla Fellow in Jewish Studies at Brandeis University, and was the 1996 Stoody-West Fellow in Religious Journalism.
Falsani lives in the Chicago area with her husband and fellow journalist, Maurice Possley. Chicago Magazine media critic Steve Rhodes has said Falsani writes one of the city’s “most compelling columns . . . despite her focus on a subject that often is handled with a deadly dullness.” Of her column, Falsani says she likes to try to “find God in the places some people say God isn’t supposed to be,” and that she defines both spirituality and popular culture quite broadly.
Praise for The God Factor:
“In an absorbing first book – The God Factor: Inside the Spiritual Lives of Public People – she takes the reader along on spirited, often-surprising interviews with more than two dozen creative artists and thought-leaders. The journey becomes engrossing because of the remarkable openness and candor she encounters among the famous, as well as the depth and variety of their beliefs. . . This sensitive spiritual portrait of popular culture evokes, in thought-provoking fashion, the vibrant and highly individualized nature of contemporary faith.”
— Christian Science Monitor
“Cathleen Falsani is above all else, an exemplary conversationalist. . . She is enthusiastic, well-read, articulate and open-minded. [In The God Factor,] she sweeps us right along... She has done what only great interviewers have the wisdom and patience to do. She has set the stage and dimmed the lights just so. She has invited us in to the conversation and left us with wonder, confusion, elation, and grace.”
— Chicago Tribune
“ Religion reporter Falsani dishes up a whimsical and absorbing collection of interviews with assorted literati and glitterati, dissecting issues of faith, ethics, and personal spirituality. . . Falsani handles the profiles with sensitivity, painting the book’s diverse spiritual seekers with compassion and grace.”
— Publishers Weekly
“In this charming book, Falsani, columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, interviews more than 25 people of note – politicians, celebrities, writers, and musicians – about their spirituality in an effort to lift the reader’s spirit while satisfying a certain guilty delight in gossip. . . By turns surprising, dismaying, and entertaining, this work is recommended for most collections.”
— Library Journal