Hillary Carlip

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Hillary Carlip (born 20 October 1956) is an American author, screenwriter, and artist.

As an author, her memoir Queen of the Oddballs: And Other True Stories from a Life Unaccording to Plan (HarperCollins May, 2006), which Publishers Weekly called “Fresh and funny…hilarious and heartbreaking,” received good reviews, and is an American Bookseller's Association Book Sense Pick, chosen by independent bookstores throughout the country.

Queen of the Oddballs forms a chronology of Hillary Carlip’s habitual straying from roads more traveled – from a wisecracking third-grader suspended from school for smoking (while imitating Holly Golightly), to a headline-making teen activist, juggler and fire eater, friend (NOT “fan”) of Carly Simon and Carole King, grand prize-winning Gong Show contestant, cult rock star, and seeker of spiritual and romantic truths that definitely defy expectations.

Illustrated with ephemera – from diary entries and photographs to a handwritten letter from Carly Simon – Queen of the Oddballs presents a virtual time capsule of pop culture’s last four decades and celebrates a creative life lived to the hilt. The New York Times said, "Carlip's curriculum vitae reads like a Cliffs Notes version of American Popular culture."

Hillary has been hailed as a pioneer in bringing the voices of teenage girls into the mainstream with her first book Girl Power: Young Women Speak Out (Warner Books, 1995). The New York Public Library selected Girl Power for its "Best Books for Teens" list. When Hillary appeared on Oprah, the hour show was devoted to the book. Now in its eighth printing, Girl Power is required reading for many Women's Studies courses in the United States.

Hillary's second book, Zine Scene (Girl Press, 1999), which she designed herself and co-wrote with Francesca Lia Block, was included in a show at the New Museum for Contemporary Art in New York City, and won an American Library Association Award.

Hillary is the creator, editor and host of the literary website, FRESH YARN: The Online Salon for Personal Essays. Every three weeks FRESH YARN presents six pieces written by a diverse range of all-star writers/performers and personalities. FRESH YARN has been a YAHOO PICK, featured in an LA Times article, picked as a HOT SITE by USA Today, and was receiving over six million hits annually in its second year.

Hillary has also been an NPR commentator, having written and recorded pieces for All Things Considered, and has read/performed her personal essays at spoken word hot spots throughout the United States. She appeared in the Los Angeles Theater Works production of FIRED, which aired on NPR, as well as New York's FIRED show at Second Stage Theater. She also has a piece included in the book FIRED!: Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized, & Dismissed (Simon and Schuster’s Touchstone Books, 2006).

With Josh Kilmer-Purcell, Danielle Trussoni, and Maria Dahvana Headley, she is a founding member of The Memoirists Collective, a group that seeks to identify and nurture new talent in nonfiction, as well as to encourage collaborative and creative book promotion.

Early in her screenwriting career Hillary saw her first film script, SKIRTS, co-written with Miss Congeniality co-writer, Katie Ford, sold in a bidding war to Columbia Studios. Hillary then went on to do script rewrites for many of the major studios, among those projects several original animated films for Disney including An Extremely Goofy Movie (winner of an Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Animated Home Movie Production).

As a visual artist, Hillary has designed and produced websites for major stars (including Jennifer Aniston), artists, authors, musicians and advertisers, and has a web production and design company Fly HC. Hillary has shown and sold her found-object assemblages through several prominent Los Angeles galleries. She has also done private commissions and been featured in group exhibits in New York and Chicago.

As a new media entrepreneur, from 1999 to 2001 Hillary was Co-President/Founder/Executive Creative Director of VOXXY, the interactive network. There, she oversaw creative aspects of the company including designing and producing 10 major websites, which earned Voxxy the 2000 Bandie Broadband Award for innovation in the category "Newest New Thing."

As a performance artist, Hillary has written and performed comedy material, juggled and eaten fire as a solo act, and performed alongside the Flying Karamazov Brothers. She appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, teaching Ellen how to eat fire (complete with Liza Minnelli running onstage –unplanned – with a fire extinguisher!) She also started her own record label, releasing songs she wrote and performed with her all-girl band, Angel and the Reruns. The band's song Buffy Come Back became an international cult hit, and Hillary appeared in several films (including [Tom Hanks]'s Bachelor Party), and on their soundtracks, with songs she wrote, produced and performed.

Hillary has also worked with various companies and organizations as a creative and motivational consultant and speaker.