Leigh Sales, 37, the subject of Sunday Life magazine's most recent cover, is fast becoming the ultimate GWAS girl crush (though she's an atheist, an issue explored in her book On Doubt, her Anne of Green Gables fangirl status almost makes up for that). Helen Pitt's cover story was a treat: we learn that Brisbane girl Sales is a wedding singer (the gigs supported her through university) and an accomplished pianist who lives by her military-man father's maxim that "Planning and practice prevent piss-poor performance".
Books, she says, changed her life. This is her bookshelf, as seen at The Drum, which resides in the Sydney home she shares with her husband, Willis – whom she married aged 23 after meeting him at an Assemblies of God church – inspiring her popular Well- Readhead blog. Pitt writes:
Her love of reading dates to first grade, when she was bedridden with scarlet fever, measles and mumps. Her mother bought her a copy of Enid Blyton's The Enchanted Wood, which she still has today on that bookshelf, along with a host of titles ranging from fiction by Vikram Seth through to Keith Richards' biography. "If Mum was reading Master of the Game by Sidney Sheldon and I was 10 and if it caught my eye, I'd read it too," she says. "I was a very nerdy, bookish sort of child; I played the piano and wasn't very good at sport. Anne of Green Gables was an early fictional mentor.
Apart from Sales' Anne-like traits, Pitt notes she was turned down for a journalism cadetship at the Courier-Mail newspaper and instead went to Channel Nine as a researcher; her goal to become a US correspondent "forged early from the pages of Huckleberry Finn". During her time in America she won a Walkley Award for her reporting on Guantanamo Bay (she wrote a book on David Hicks). She also has a master's degree in international relations. And conducted the only Australian interview with Hillary Clinton as the presenter of Lateline.
Despite her accomplishments, she's anxious about taking over from Kerry O'Brien: "One of my attributes is warmth, so I don't want to not be warm, but I do want to be taken seriously... I have a lot of regard and respect for Kerry and what Kerry's done. But Kerry's gone now and it's time for me and Chris to do the show."
7:30 with Leigh Sales and Chris Uhlmann debuts tonight on the ABC at guess what time!
Girl With a Satchel
8 comments:
I'm actually looking forward to the 7.30 report tonight... never used to say that with Kerry!
not sure if you're atheist comment was to be taken as a joke or seriously?
forgive me if i'm taking it the wrong way, but as an atheist reader of your site i am completely accepting of your faith and it is not an issue for me at all, and doesn't affect my judgement of you or your writing. to say someone's lack of faith might actually affect your 'crush' on them to me seems decidedly un-Christian.
I agree - Erica, your aside about her status as an atheist took me aback. Not cool. And certainly not gracious. If you meant it to be tongue-in-cheek, what a misfire.
For all of your readers who appreciate your musings (and often politely ignore the Jesus content), don't ruin things by being judgmental, please.
Hi guys,
Yes, it was intended to be tongue-in-cheek. Apologies for any offense; at the time I though Sales' religious beliefs (or lack thereof) to be an interesting contrast to the day's content thus warranting an aside comment...misguided as it was.
Cheers,
Erica
Why is it so bad she's an atheist? Disappointed in the choice of words.
Sorry but I knew Leigh at University, in fact I remember meeting her at our first Comm lecture, back in 1991. She told me she was a Christian, which I always assumed she was. Never read 'On Doubt' but maybe the thorns of the world grew and choked her faith till there was nothing left? God never shuts the door on anyone.
M.D. - I don't think you can make those kind of assumptions without reading her book first.
Typical journalist! They are so rational and quasi-intellectual but not a philosophical bone in their bodies. If they were true intellectuals they wouldn't lose their faith, it would only get stronger. I was a journalist and its a world of 'here and now' where there is no time for contemplation or reflection. I don't think it's far from the truth to say your faith can get choked in that world - it has happened to journalists I've worked with. Glad I got out and am working for charities now.
Post a Comment