Lynn Sherr
Former ABC News Correspondent, ‘20/20’
Award-winning broadcaster and best-selling author Lynn Sherr spent more than thirty
years at ABC News, including more than twenty as a correspondent with the ABC
Newsmagazine 20/20. Since she left ABC in 2008, she has been freelancing on a variety of
platforms, from print to TV to digital. Her newest book, SALLY RIDE: America’s First Woman in
Space (published in June 2014) was a New York Times Science Bestseller, was named one of the
Washington Post’s Best Books of the Year, and was a Finalist in the Goodreads Choice Awards for
history and biography.
Throughout her career, Sherr has covered a wide range of stories, specializing in women's
issues and social change, as well as investigative reports. Her numerous awards include an
Emmy, two American Women in Radio and Television Commendation awards, a Gracie Award,
and, among other honors, a George Foster Peabody Award.
Prior to her ABC assignment at 20/20, Sherr was a national correspondent for ABC News,
where she was also part of the network’s political team for every election cycle through 2000.
Sherr also reported on the NASA space shuttle program from its inception in 1981 through the
Challenger explosion in 1986, anchoring almost every mission from launch to landing. She is a
graduate of Wellesley College, where she served as a trustee.
Before going to ABC in 1977, Sherr was a reporter for WNET-TV in New York and WETA-TV
in Washington, D.C., both public television stations. Prior to that, she reported for WCBS-TV in New
York, and The Associated Press in New York and Condé Nast Publications.
Sherr is the author of SWIM: Why We Love the Water (2012); her memoir, Outside the Box:
My Unscripted Life of Love, Loss and Television News, published in September 2006; the
biography, Failure Is Impossible: Susan B. Anthony in Her Own Words; and co-author of Susan B.
Anthony Slept Here: A Guide to American Women's Landmarks, and 10 editions of “The Women's
Calendar.” Her bestselling book, Tall Blondes, offered a perceptive and highly praised look at
one of wildlife's most endearing but little-understood animals — giraffes — and was also the
subject of a one-hour documentary for the PBS Nature program. Her bestselling book, America
the Beautiful: The Stirring True Story Behind Our Nation’s Favorite Song, came out in 2001. She
conceived and co-edited Peter Jennings: A Reporter’s Life, which was published in 2007.
One Gateway Center, Suite 751 | Newton, MA 02458 | Phone: 617.614.1600 | Fax: 617.965.6610 | apbspeakers.com
Sherr wrote the Foreword to The Mercury 13: The Untold Story of Thirteen American
Women and the Dream of Space Flight and to Smart Women Don’t Retire: They Break Free. She
also has served as a Contributing Writer at Parade Magazine, where she did cover stories on
President and Mrs. Obama, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Rick Perry, Oprah Winfrey, first lady Michelle
Obama and Dr. Jill Biden; and at More Magazine; wrote columns for The Daily Beast; broadcast
for public radio, and has frequently co-hosted PRI’s The Takeaway. She served as a
Commissioner on the New York City Commission on Women’s Issues. She is also a member of the
selection committee for the John Chancellor Awards.
Lynn Sherr is a popular lecturer and public speaker at many venues, including women’s
groups, journalism classes and meetings of cancer professionals.
Topics:
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Sally Ride: Inspiration from America’s First Woman in Space
Surviving Cancer
Outside the Box
Other Tall Blondes
Women’s Issues: Power of Women, History of Women, Women Today, Susan B. Anthony,
Inspirational Messages to Women
One Gateway Center, Suite 751 | Newton, MA 02458 | Phone: 617.614.1600 | Fax: 617.965.6610 | apbspeakers.com