Gay Courter
BornOctober 1, 1944 (1944-10) (age 79)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.
EducationAntioch College (BA)
Notable worksThe Midwife
SpousePhilip Courter
Children3
Website
www.gaycourter.com

Gay Courter (born October 1, 1944) is an American author, Her first non-fiction work, The Beansprout Book (1973),[1] introduced beansprouts to American supermarkets. She eventually became known as "The Pied Piper of sprouting."[2] Her works have been translated into several languages, including French, Spanish, and Swedish.[3][4][5] Courter is credited with being one of the first women writers to write a published novel on a word processor.[6][7]

Biography

Courter was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Leonard M. Weisman, an international businessman, and Elsie Spector Weisman, a social worker. She is the elder of two daughters.

Courter attended schools in Taiwan, Japan, and the United States and was homeschooled by her mother during their travels. She graduated from AB Davis High School and received a B.A. in Drama/Film from Antioch College in 1966.   

From 1967 to 1970, she worked in the documentary and educational film business in New York with Harvest Productions, ACI Films, and Concord Productions. In 1972, Courter co-founded Courter Films and Associates with her husband Philip Courter.[8] Together, they produced more than 200 documentary, educational, and corporate films.  

Courter has been a vocal supporter of children's rights.[9] She was a Guardian ad Litem in the Florida Courts for 25 years. Her non-fiction book, I Speak For This Child: True Stories of a Child Advocate, led to television appearances on the Today Show, Good Morning America, and 20/20.

Courter is also a travel writer for Creators Syndicate[10] and other outlets.[11] She is a member of the North American Travel Journalists Association, The Authors Guild, and the Writers Guild of America.

Courter lives in Crystal River, Florida with her husband.[12] They have three children.[13]

Diamond Princess

In February 2020, Courter was one of 3,700 passengers and crew quarantined on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which was held in port at Yokohama, Japan during the coronavirus outbreak. In an interview with The New York Times, Courter questioned the efficacy of keeping passengers quarantined on board the ship, where the virus was rapidly spreading.[14] The Atlantic published a piece by Courter, detailing her trip to Asia, her time on the Diamond Princess, and her experience in quarantine once back in the United States.[15] Courter feared she and her husband would suffer from symptoms of PTSD.[16] Their experiences later became the book Quarantine! How I Survived the Diamond Princess Coronavirus Crisis.[17]

Gay Courter works on her IBM System/6 while writing her book, The Midwife.

Literary styles and themes

Courter has written novels in both the first person and third person narrative styles. Many of her stories are based in places where she lived, such as central Brazil and Israel; people she has known, including her paternal grandmother, who was a Russian midwife; and Israeli spies, who were family friends. Her father was an arms merchant for Israel[18] and purchased an aircraft carrier for their navy.

Film producer

Together with her husband, Gay has produced more than 200 documentary and educational films[19] for more than thirty years.[20]

Their PBS productions include Freedom From Famine: The Norman Borlaug Story (Mathile/PBS 2009),[21] Solutions Micro.doc series (WEDU/PBS, 1998), Where’s My Chance? The Case for America’s Children (WEDU/PBS, 1994),[22] and The Florida Water Story (WEDU/PBS, 1988).[23]

In 1995, Courter received special recognition from the Florida Chapter of American Women in Radio and Television, Inc. for her work on Where's My Chance? The Case for Our Children, which also won an Emmy award. Courter received her second Emmy from the National Academy of Arts and Television Sciences, Suncoast Chapter, for a series of public service announcements called Solutions for America’s Children.

Advocacy

Gay Courter sits alongside Charles Gibson at ABC's Good Morning America in February 1995 with several youth Courter helped get adopted

Since becoming a Guardian ad Litem in Florida, Courter has advocated for children on a local and national level.[24] Her 1995 book, I Speak For This Child, brought worldwide attention to the issues of children languishing in foster care. Courter and her husband shifted the focus of their company to documenting the plight of foster children and produced over 75 films on the subject.

Courter has appeared as an advocate in the press, on national television, and at numerous conferences promoting Court-appointed Special Advocates (CASA), Guardians ad litem, foster and adoptive parenting.[25][26] She widened her advocacy to litigate for policy and statute change and also to represent the victims of systemic abuse in personal injury and civil rights lawsuits.[27]

Awards and honors

  • U.S. Congressional Angel in Adoption, 2005.[28]

Published works

Novels

  • (1981) The Midwife - Boston: Houghton Mifflin - ISBN 0395294630 | OCLC 222278660
  • (1984) River of Dreams - Boston: Houghton Mifflin - ISBN 0395353017 | OCLC 990378800
  • (1986) Code Ezra - Boston: Houghton Mifflin - ISBN 0395364388 | OCLC  990267219
  • (1990) Flowers in the Blood - New York: Dutton - ISBN 0525248978 | OCLC 55880474
  • (1992) The Midwife's Advice - New York: Dutton - ISBN 0525934944 | OCLC 231690264
  • (2013) Healing Paradise - Crystal River: Egret - ASIN# B00PKRLHC
  • (2019) The Girl in the Box - Crystal River: Egret - ASIN# B07XY2M91W

Non-fiction

  • (1973) The Beansprout Book - New York: Simon and Schuster - ISBN 0671215965 | OCLC 948737482
  • (1995) I Speak for this Child: True Stories of a Child Advocate - New York: Crown - ISBN 9780595168392 | OCLC 48562295
  • (2003) How to Survive Your Husband's Midlife Crisis - New York: Penguin (co-written with Pat Gaudette) ISBN 9780982561751 | OCLC 747430402
  • (2020) Quarantine! How I Survived the Diamond Princess Cornonavirus Crisis-New York: Post Hill Press/Simon and Schuster - ISBN 9781642936834

References

  1. ↑ "The Beansprout Book | Gay Courter". Retrieved 2019-10-17.
  2. ↑ "New York Post, November 12, 1973". New York Post. November 12, 1973.
  3. ↑ Courter, Gay (1986). Le fleuve de tous les rêves (in French). Montréal?: Laffont Canada. ISBN 9782277021148. OCLC 16041391.
  4. ↑ Courter, Gay (1995). Drömmanrnas Flod. Nattens Drottning.
  5. ↑ Courter, Gay (2008). Flores en la sangre (in Spanish). Alella, Barcelona: Nabla. ISBN 9788493592653. OCLC 433485628.
  6. ↑ "A Screen of Her Own: Gay Courter's The Midwife and the Literary History of Word Processing". Harvard University Press Blog. Retrieved 2019-10-17.
  7. ↑ “Word Machines for Word People,” Publishers Weekly, February 13, 1981
  8. ↑ "About Us". www.courterfilms.com. Retrieved 2019-10-21.
  9. ↑ "On The Side Of The Child". Newsweek. 1995-02-19. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
  10. ↑ "Search Content | Creators Syndicate". www.creators.com. Retrieved 2019-11-18.
  11. ↑ "Search Content | Creators Syndicate". www.creators.com. Retrieved 2019-10-27.
  12. ↑ "Cruise Comeback: Lessons from the Crystal River couple quarantined on the Diamond Princess". ABC Action News Tampa Bay (WFTS). 2021-09-07. Retrieved 2023-09-12.
  13. ↑ "Bios – Courter Films". Retrieved 2023-09-12.
  14. ↑ Rich, Motoko; Yamamitsu, Eimi (2020-02-09). "As Virus Cases Rise on Quarantined Cruise Ship, Passengers Are on Edge". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-02-11.
  15. ↑ Courter, Gay (2020-02-27). "I Prepared for Everything, but Not Coronavirus on a Cruise Ship". The Atlantic. Retrieved 2020-04-02.
  16. ↑ Orecchio-Egresitz, Haven. "These couples spent nearly a month under confinement in a coronavirus quarantine, and yes, they're still married". Business Insider. Retrieved 2020-04-02.
  17. ↑ Courter, Gay (2020-11-10). Quarantine!. Post Hill Press. ISBN 978-1-64293-683-4.
  18. ↑ “‘Legal’ Buying of Munitions Admitted by Jewish Agency.” New York Times, January 11, 1948, front page.
  19. ↑ "Courter Films & Associates". www.courterfilms.com. Retrieved 2019-10-18.
  20. ↑ "Producer | Gay Courter". Retrieved 2019-10-18.
  21. ↑ "Appreciating the Norm Borlaug Documentary 'Freedom From Famine' All Over Again". American Council on Science and Health. 2015-08-25. Retrieved 2019-10-29.
  22. ↑ Singer, Glenn (3 December 1994). "Film Focuses on Needs of Children". Sun-Sentinel.com. Retrieved 2019-10-29.
  23. ↑ "Cultural Affairs Media - Michael Green Productions - CA Media, Inc". www.camediainc.com. Retrieved 2019-10-29.
  24. ↑ EST, Newsweek Staff On 2/19/95 at 7:00 PM (1995-02-19). "On The Side Of The Child". Newsweek. Retrieved 2019-11-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  25. ↑ "A Lifetime of Difference, One Child at a Time : Courts: In an overburdened system, volunteer advocates keep the focus on one thing--the best interest of those who have been abused, neglected or abandoned". Los Angeles Times. 1995-03-03. Retrieved 2019-10-29.
  26. ↑ "Column: Protecting kids, not reuniting families, should be Florida's top priority". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 2019-10-29.
  27. ↑ “On The Side of the Child; Five Years in the ‘Best Interest Wars’.” Newsweek, February 20, 1995
  28. ↑ "Angels in Adoption Awards 1999-2008" (PDF). PoundPupLegacy.org.
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