Sixty years ago, Helen Gurley Brown's Sex and the Single Girl sent shockwaves through the United States, selling more than two million copies in three weeks. Helen’s message was radical for its time: marriage wasn’t essential for women to lead rich, fulfilling lives. Now, authors Haley Swanson and Laura Bogart join 22 other writers to reconsider Helen’s advice and how it applies to their own paths, fielding topics that she couldn’t—or wouldn’t—conceive of in 1962: contraception and abortion (an omission demanded by her publisher), queer and trans womanhood, polyamory, celibacy, interracial dating, bodies of all kinds, consent, sex work, IVF, and the pop culture that both saves and fails us.

This reimagining is the new book Sex and the Single Woman, which we will celebrate on The Ivy's back patio on September 8th! Haley and Laura will read from their essays, discuss the project more broadly, and answer your questions.

Click here to RSVP!

Click here to order Sex and the Single Woman!

Haley Swanson is an MFA candidate at Sarah Lawrence College and co-editor of Sex and the Single Woman: 24 Writers Reimagine Helen Gurley Brown's Cult Classic (Harper Perennial, 2022). Her work has appeared in The Rumpus, Glamour, Electric Literature, Bustle, Creative Nonfiction, Brevity, and elsewhere. She's received support from Disquiet International, an NES Artist Residency, and teaches writing at Catapult. She lives in New York. 

Laura Bogart is the author of the novel Don’t You Know I Love You (Dzanc Books, 2020). Her work has appeared in The Atlantic, Salon, DAME, Vulture, BuzzFeed, and The Week.

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