Molly Hersage - Biography

Education

Molly Hersage graduated from of the University of Edinburgh, Scotland in 2001 (MA) and Scripps College in 1999 (BA). After five years of teaching and a short stint in commercial real estate she now writes full time in Pasadena, California.

Playwriting

Molly began writing plays when she was sixteen. Her love for the stage came from her participation in theater as an actress in more than fifteen stage productions from the ages of 8-18.

Her plays have received professional productions in New York (1997), Washington D.C (1997), Wichita, Kansas (1996), and San Francisco (1995).

Molly is the winner of five national playwriting awards, including the Princeton University Short Play Contest. Most recently she was the recipient of the Omni Center for Peace, Justice and Equality 2006 PeaceWriting Award for her new play, co-authored by Nancy Hersage, entitled The Perfect Endgame. Molly has written three full-length plays: Touch the Face of God, The Perfect Endgame and Learning to Love, and a one-act, And Mama Do You Love Me?

Fiction

Molly wrote her first book when she was twelve while hiding out in her room from a particularly brutal Minnesota winter. When spring arrived she decided she didn’t like what she had written and burned the manuscript in a moment of teenage angst and self-consciousness.

Luckily, her passion for the page survived the bonfire and she wrote her next work of fiction while in graduate school, entitled In Search of the Sun. Inspired by the several school shootings that had occurred in America the two years before, this book sought to provide an explanation and understanding for the growing violence, isolation and anger experienced by teenagers across the country.

Non-Fiction

After retiring from five years of teaching in grade 7-12 public and private schools to pursue a writing career full time, Molly decided to document her experiences with young people in the hopes of shedding light on the highs and lows teenagers experience. This time she chose parents as her audience and wrote her first work of non-fiction, entitled Seven Strategies for Understanding and Living with Your Teenager. Using recorded dialogues, five years of notes, interviews and anecdotes, the book follows the lives of several teenagers whose struggle to connect with their parents exacerbates their adolescence. Finally, the book offers parents seven useful and effective strategies for helping their children as they transition from teenagers to adults.

Children's Books

Most recently, Molly has turned her writing efforts to the children’s market. Together, she and Nancy Hersage have co-authored two children’s stories.

Paradise Alley (link to be added when available) tells the story of Scout, a green tabby cat, who is sent on an adventure by his all-knowing spiritual guide Nivana-Hossana, a long-haired Cincilla, to learn the value of sharing, the importance of courage, and above all the ability to speak the truth.

Mo Goes to Ireland (link to be added when available) tells the story of a Bengali monkey named Mo who is sent to Ireland to find bananas for the other monkeys in the jungle. While on the Emerald Isle he discovers Irish cuisine, Irish culture and Irish people. With this new knowledge he returns home to the others to teach them there is so much more in the world to keep one’s eyes open for more than just bananas.

Screenwriting

Writing for film is a fairly new endeavor Molly has taken on in an effort to expand her craft to include other mediums. Together with Nancy Hersage she has co-written three screenplays, Spencer on the Loose, Bodies of Knowledge and Double Cross Dressers, all of which have received notoriety and attention from Hollywood producers and agents.