Sarah Hampson
Sarah Hampson began her career in journalism in 1993, when she started to write for magazines as a freelance contributer. For her work in publications such as Toronto Life, Report on Business, Chatelaine, and the now-defunct Saturday Night, she won several National Magazine Awards, including three Golds. She has also written for publications in England, including The Observer.
In 1999, The Globe and Mail invited her to write a weekly Interview column, which still runs today. The tally of interviews now numbers over 500. She has talked to a wide range of interesting people. Among others, she has sat down with the eccentric (Karen Black, Criss Angel, John Waters), the delusional (Steven Seagal), the beautiful (Sophia Loren, Faith Hill, Jane Seymour) the iconic (Hugh Hefner, Jane Fonda, Burt Reynolds) and the reclusive (Leonard Cohen; poet Anne Carson). Her goal is to give the reader a snapshot of that person in that moment, and to get beneath the veneer of celebrity to understand the motivation and personality of her subjects.
In 2000, her Interview column was nominated for a National Newspaper Award.
Although known primarily as a profile writer, Hampson has an interest in many topics. She has covered business stories about female ambition, the appeal of late-night browsing on the Shopping Channel, the mating and feeding habits of Bay Street denizens and the retail magic of Holt Renfrew. She has reflected on her life as a mother of three boys. She has gone on a road trip through the dusty Saskatchewan plains to write about the acclaimed “Saskatchewan Series” by Canadian artist, Landon McKenzie. She has trekked across the Arctic lowlands of Devon Island, the world’s largest uninhabited island, for a travel memoir; ventured into the wrong Chicago ‘hood with basketball legend, Isiah Thomas; and hung out in the Leafs’ Wives’ Room to understand the behind-the-scenes culture of hockey.
In 2007, she joined the staff in the Life section of The Globe and Mail. That year, she began Generation Ex, a column about the social phenomenon of divorce. She also writes Currency, a weekly column about the way we spend money.
Her book about mid-life post-divorce, Happily Ever After Marriage. There's Nothing Like Divorce to Clear the Head, will be published by Knopf in the spring, 2010.
I want a divorce. p.s. I still love you
Jenny Sanford, the estranged wife of South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, explains her ambivalence toward her cheating husband
Before death do us part, I need a divorce
Dennis Hopper’s deathbed divorce plea is a lesson in what really matters: to be surrounded by those we love, not necessarily the ones we married
Good grief? Not after divorce
Community programs tend to lump those who are divorced in with people who have lost their spouses through death. But the two kinds of grief are very different
Am I angry about my divorce? More like disappointed
People often talk about forgiveness as a crucial part of healing. The culture likes the idea of it – a warm, white blanket we lay out to smooth over bad feelings and events. But I don't think you can forgive everything.
Retirement – who needs it?
Seeing work as a lifelong adventure may encourage people to take more risks and stress less about ‘making it' by a certain age
The year in interviews: What Hef's slippers told me
Some subjects can be complex reads, but they give themselves away in small details
Sex with the ex
In the new movie It's Complicated, a woman has an impetuous affair with her ex-husband – not as far-fetched as it may seem, since familiarity can breed comfort
Whether it's hush cash or a Kobe special, Tiger's paying
We like to think intimacy and money are only linked in prostitution. But money and sex, not to mention love, are inextricably linked
Who gets the blame when a marriage ends?
When women leave marriages to row across oceans it's fine – as long as they don't have kids. But it's still more acceptable for the man to make a bid for adventure
ATM: The god in the money machine
Forty years after the ATM came to Canada, we have become very comfortable with its permissive ways