Lisa Anderson : photo courtesy Roxy

Profiles / Biographies

Chronicle Books to Publish Biography of Lisa Andersen

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 10 October, 2005 : - - Board Sports Management is pleased to announce that its client and four-time professional surfing world champion Lisa Andersen has signed a contract with Chronicle Books to publish her life story.  The hard cover illustrated biography is currently being written by award-winning surf journalist Nick Carroll and is scheduled for publication in the first quarter of 2007.

One of the greatest female surfers of all time, Lisa is largely credited with elevating womens surfing to the performance level it now enjoys and for the immense popularity of womens surfing in general.  Her early fashion sense and refusal to settle for the status quo led to the creation of Quiksilver’s Roxy line of clothing and a now booming industry catering to girls, young women and the beach lifestyle.

Lisa’s life story is certainly a remarkable one.  After running away from her Ormond Beach, Florida home at age 16, she headed for Huntington Beach, California aka Surf City, USA.  The rest, as they say, is history as Lisa spent the next two decades surfing the planet’s best waves and winning dozens of contests en route to her four world titles.  Now 35 and again living in Huntington Beach, Lisa is the mother of two and an executive with Roxy.

“I’ve had a lot of people over the years telling me I should do a book,” said Lisa.  “But, the timing was never right, and I never felt like I had the right person to write the book,” she continued.  “When Nick showed interest in doing it, everything just kind of came together…We’ve known each other a very long time and he knows surfing and surfing history as well as anyone.  I’m pretty excited about it all because I couldn’t ask for a better person to work on this book with me.”

The former editor of Surfing Magazine and Tracks Magazine, Nick Carroll has authored four surfing-related books and has contributed numerous articles to publications such as Playboy, Village Voice, the Sydney Morning Herald, Mens Journal and Vogue.  By his own account, he has probably written more than a million words on the sport of surfing.  An accomplished waterman, Nick is a two-time Australian national surfing champion and currently a world-ranked open ocean paddleboard racer.  “I’m both excited and honored to be given the opportunity to write Lisa’s bio,” said Nick.  “She is a complex, fascinating person whose life has come to represent one of surfing’s biggest ever shifts – from male monoculture to a place where the majority of beginner surfers worldwide these days are girls and women.”

The yet to be titled biography will also include more than 100 photos taken throughout the course of Lisa’s home and surfing life.  Besides photos from her personal archive, the book will include the work of some of the world’s best surfing photographers such as Jeff Hornbaker, Tom Servais, Steve Sherman, and Jack English.

Chronicle Books was founded in 1966 and has since become one of the most widely admired publishing companies in the United States.  The San Francisco, California-based company publishes about 200 titles each year.  “Lisa is an icon of surfing with a great story to tell,” said Chronicle Executive Editor Sarah Malarkey. “We at Chronicle are very excited about the book and look forward to seeing it come to fruition.”

Board Sports Management is the surfing world’s leading athlete and event management agency.  The firm works with Lisa on endorsement and business affairs and is acting as a conduit for Chronicle, Lisa, Nick and the book’s other contributors.  “From a production standpoint, we couldn’t have a much better scenario for the book,” said Board Sports Management President Mitch Varnes.  “We’ve got a publishing company that is firmly behind the project, one of the most influential surfers of all time as a subject and surfing’s premiere writer telling the story.”

www.boardsportsmanagement.com

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Mitch Varnes
Board Sports Management, Inc.
321-777-9935
info@boardsportsmanagement.com

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