Interview: Roz Savage On Her Record-Breaking Row Across Three Oceans

By Laurie McAndish King

UPDATE:  5/9/12:  Roz is about to row from Newfoundland to London to land there in time for the 2012 Olympics.  We wish her well!!!

UPDATE 4/4/12: Roz has a brand new website with loads of news about her newest rowing adventure to London and her acceptance into the World Fellows Program at Yale University this fall! 

UPDATE 3/3/12: Roz has just announced she will be rowing the North Atlantic to land in time for the 2012 Olympics in London

TWITTER: @rozsavage

Adventurer and environmentalist Roz Savage is the first woman to row across the “Big Three” oceans: the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian. Even more impressive, she did it solo, in a 23-foot rowboat, without a support vessel.

“I have battled twenty-foot waves, sleep deprivation, self-doubt and depression, but I have never been happier.”  Roz Savage

I interviewed Roz back in 2007 when she was launching her Pacific passage, and learned how she’d transformed herself from an ordinary office worker into a world-class ocean-rowing athlete. She’s accomplished quite a lot since then, having rowed more than 15,000 miles and spent nearly a year and a half of her life at sea.

Arriving Mauritrius after rowing Indian Ocean/Photo: Colin Leondardt-10/3/11

And she has the credentials to prove it.  Roz now holds four world records for ocean rowing, and in 2010 was named Adventurer of the Year by the National Geographic Society.  She was recently invited by the Queen’s royal command to a reception at Buckingham Palace.

I was thrilled to catch up with Roz recently at a coffee shop in San Francisco, just after she had set her new record by completing the last of her three ocean rows, the Indian Ocean crossing… 

Interview: Lisa See On The Joy Of Writing And “Dreams Of Joy”

By Pamela Burke

TWITTER: @Lisa_See

Best-selling novelist Lisa See has been fascinated with Chinese culture and female friendship ever since she published her first book “On Gold Mountain” in 1995.   This “Los Angeles treasure,” as she’s been called, is now the author of seven popular novels with the release this year of “Dreams of Joy.”

“…write 1,000 words a day and one charming note.   I now say that to anyone who will listen.”    Lisa See

When “Snow Flower and the Secret Fan,” a master work that has been translated into 38 languages,  made its way to the silver screen, our reviewer Sue Podbielski praised its seldom portrayed theme of women’s loyalty and friendship.

We were delighted when we could talk to Lisa on “The Women’s Eye Radio Show” and hear more about how she “cuts to the bone” when she writes.  She’s working on yet another novel, but she took time out to talk to us about the love she has for her craft.  Here is Stacey Gualandi’s interview…