Strong, sassy, always surprising—and titled after a Saturday Night Live “Weekend Update” monologue by Tina Fey—Bitch Is the New Black is a deliciously addictive memoir-in-essays in which Helena Andrews goes from being the daughter of the town lesbian to a hot-shot political reporter… all while trying to answer the question, “can a strong, single, and successful black woman ever find love?” Fans of Sloane Crosley (I Was Told There’d Be Cake) will love the bold and brassy Bitch Is the New Black.
Featured in Marie Claire, Glamour, The Washington Post, Essence, OUT and Uptown Washington journalist Helena Andrews is a purveyor of all things awesome. HarperCollins published her first book, a memoir in essays entitled BITCH IS THE NEW BLACK, on June 1st, 2010. Grey's Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes has optioned the book as a feature film for Fox Searchlight Pictures.
A former staff writer at Politico and New York Times Style Section contributor, Helena now writes a popular weekly column called "Single-Minded" on being "free, single and disengaged" for The Root, a division of The Washington Post.
On December 10th, 2009 The Washington Post published a front-page profile of Helena that set the Interwebs on fire! The article, "Single Minded Success," prompted responses from The Huffington Post, Jezebel and Racialicious among others. In it Helena explained why she wrote BITCH IS THE NEW BLACK: "What I'm trying to say about single black women [all women, really] is that you don't know them as well as you think you do. They may not know themselves as well as they think they do." She approaches single-hood with rare honesty and grit.
Helena has appeared on ABC's "Nightline," CBS's "Early Show," CNN, XM Radio, NPR and NY1. She's shared her unique take on everything pop culture from "The Real Housewives of Atlanta" ("totes cray cray") to Disney's "Princess and the Frog" (magical indoctrination) with millions of fans across the country.
After graduating from Columbia University in 2002, Helena scored a sweet $5.15/hour internship at O, the Oprah Magazine. (Like all good indentured serv... er, interns, she survived on Ramen noodles, free food in the break room and the kindness of strangers.)
In 2005, Helena earned a master's degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, which provided the solid reporting foundation necessary to answer phones as a news assistant in the Washington bureau of The New York Times.
From there Helena went on to cover Capitol Hill for Politico, which resulted in an allergic reaction to politics that was cured only slightly by writing a book. She is currently working on the film adaptation of BITCH IS THE NEW BLACK and (as a former pro cheerleader) living vicariously through "So You Think You Can Dance?" and every horrendous dance movie ever made, including but not limited to the "Step Up" franchise.
