Jeanne Marie Laskas

Career

Laskas is the author of seven books, including Concussion (2015). The book is based on her 2009 GQ article "Game Brain" about forensic pathologist Bennet Omalu, who tried to publicize his findings of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in American football players despite NFL opposition. The article was also adapted by Laskas and screenwriter Peter Landesman into a film of the same name, starring Will Smith as Omalu. Most of Laskas' current work appears in GQ, where she is a correspondent.

Laskas' other works include Hidden America (2012), Growing Girls (2006),The Exact Same Moon (2003), and Fifty Acres and Poodle (2000). Laskas' work has been widely anthologized, including in The Best American Magazine Writing 2008 ("Underworld") and The Best American Sportswriting 2000, 2002, 2008, 2010 ("Game Brain"), and 2012. Her GQ piece about coal miners, "Underworld," was a finalist in feature writing for the 2007 National Magazine Awards. Her earliest essays and features are compiled in The Balloon Lady and Other People I Know (1996).

Laskas has been writing for national magazines for 20 years, with work appearing in The New York Times Magazine, Smithsonian Magazine, The Atlantic, and The Wall Street Journal. She was formerly a contributing editor at Esquire, and a weekly syndicated columnist ("Significant Others") at The Washington Post Magazine. She also wrote "Ask Laskas" in Reader's Digest and the "My Life as a Mom" column for Ladies' Home Journal.

Laskas directs The Writing Program at the University of Pittsburgh, where she teaches creative writing.