Andrée Aelion Brooks

Andrée Aelion Brooks is an award-winning journalist, author and lecturer. She is popular on the speaker circuit particularly for her style of story telling, humor and insights -- qualities she brings to the topics she covers.

For 18 years she was a contributing columnist and news writer for the New York Times where she covered personal finance, the women's movement and real estate investment issues, among other topics (byline: Andree Brooks and/​or Andrée Aelion Brooks). Lately, she has been writing guest essays on life as an older American for the Encore section of the Wall Street Journal. She also regularly contributes to Hadassah Magazine, among other publications.

Brooks is an Associate Fellow at Yale University and the founder and first president of the Women’s Campaign School at Yale (wcsyale.org). The purpose of the non-partisan, non-agenda based School is to train more women worldwide in the skills needed to win elective office. She is also an historical advisor and board member of the Gomez Mill House and historic site in Marlboro, N.Y., the oldest surviving Jewish residence in the United States (gomez.org).

In recent years, she has been concentrating primarily, although not exclusively, on unusual aspects of Jewish history, writing and lecturing widely around the country on a number of these topics (see left panel). She recently completed a private commission, writing contextual history for a noted American Jewish family to accompany the genealogical research that was done on the family. The family was from Poland and Romania.

Brooks is the author of the first comprehensive biography of Doña Gracia Nasi, the Renaissance banker (this book, "The Woman who Defied Kings," is now under option for a movie and/​or mini series). She coordinated and edited a multi-media educational program called “Out of Spain” for 5-7th graders in Jewish congregational and day schools in Sephardic history and culture. Her newest book of Jewish History, “Russian Dance,” a romantic thriller based on the true story of a Bolshevik spy, has been described as a “gripping narrative” by Publishers Weekly and was "highly recommended" by the American Library Association. It won First Place in the history/​biography category for 2005 Contest from the National Association of Press Women.

In 1990, Brooks received the American Jewish Woman of Achievement award from the American Jewish Committee. In 2001, she received a special award from the Consulate General of Israel in conjunction with the American Sephardi Federation for her work in Sephardic Jewish History. And in 2003 she received the Mark Twain Award from the Connecticut Press Club as well as it being named a finalist in the National Jewish Book Awards. She has also received an outstanding achievement award from the National Federation of Press Women, among other writing honors.

In the late 1980's she was the author of another award-winning book “Children of Fast Track Parents,” which was featured on the Oprah Winfrey show and later made into a PBS hour-long documenatary.

For a full list of more than 1,000 articles in the New York Times by this author, go to the Times website, nytimes.com and byline Andree Brooks and Andree Aelion Brooks.

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