Barbara Weisberg

Barbara Weisberg's new book is STRONG PASSIONS: A SCANDALOUS DIVORCE IN OLD NEW YORK, for release by Norton in February 2024. It tells the true story of an explosive divorce trial in the 1860s that exposed upper-crust New York society and its secrets, shocking the public with reports of adultery, abortion, and child abduction, and highlighting women's rights issues still in the headlines today.

The author of TALKING TO THE DEAD: KATE AND MAGGIE FOX AND THE RISE OF SPIRITUALISM, a biography of the two founders of 19th century American Spiritualism, Weisberg has also written four children's books and many articles on science and history for young readers. In addition, she co-created the TV sitcom "Charles in Charge" and has produced other award-winning programs for network and cable television.

TALKING TO THE DEAD was named one of the Best Books of the Year by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and was recommended in the Paperback Row column of the New York Times. Her YA biography SUSAN B. ANTHONY: WOMAN SUFFRAGIST was praised by the Anthony Museum in Rochester, N.Y. as a "treasure...a favorite among our visitors,” and her picture book SPACE CREATURES was called "clever, enchantingly illustrated" by Kirkus Reviews.

Weisberg earned her M.Phil. in American Studies at Yale University and her M.F.A. in Creative Writing at Brooklyn College, where she was awarded the MacArthur Scholarship in Poetry on the nomination of Allen Ginsberg. The Parapsychology Foundation awarded her the D. Scott Rogo Award for her research on Spiritualism, and the American Antiquarian Society awarded her the Lila Wallace/Readers Digest Grant for Creative Writers and Artists to pursue her work on the Fox sisters. She is a member of the Writers Guild of America, Biographers International, the American Antiquarian Society, and the Authors Guild.