SARAH O'LEARY BURNINGHAM

Sarah O’Leary Burningham is an expert on teen/parent relationships and the author of—How to Raise Your Parents (Chronicle Books). She has appeared on the Today Show, CBS News, FOX News, and NPR, and has been featured in Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, Teen Vogue , CosmoGirl , the Seattle Post-Intelligencer , and other national publications. Her latest book, Boyology: A Teen Girl's Crash Course on All Things Boy (Chronicle Books) delves into the many mysteries of teen guys dissecting flirting tactics offering dating suggestions and providing tips on forming solid friendships.

Burningham has a network of thousands of teenagers across the country (and hundreds of parents) who keep her in the loop on the latest teen trends and rely on her for solid advice when it comes to dealing with their parents and other life issues. She’s spoken to middle, junior high, and high school students around the country, as well as parent groups, offering sensible advice on how teens and parents can survive “the difficult years” while keeping their relationships intact and lines of communication open.

Burningham started her writing career while in college at the University of Utah where she wrote for local magazines. She graduated with a B.A. in English and was eventually awarded a Utah Journalism Award for a story about the drug abuse and treatment programs. Her writing has appeared in many publications, including CosmoGirl, Publishers Weekly, Salt Lake Magazine, and Catalyst magazine and has been syndicated by AlterNet. She has also worked as a freelance writer for United Concerts.

Inspired to write her first book, How to Raise Your Parents, when she was still a teenager, Burningham is close enough to teenage years to remember what they were like, but old enough to have a parental perspective. Still a teenager at heart (she loves stealing her sisters’ clothes and a good door slam) Burningham now works in book publishing. She lives in New York City with her husband.