Auerbach, Kimberlee 1972(?)-

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Auerbach, Kimberlee 1972(?)-

PERSONAL:

Born c. 1972, in Stamford, CT. Education: Attended New York University, 1990-92; State University of New York College at Purchase, B.A., 1994. Hobbies and other interests: Flamenco dancing, cooking, knitting, hiking, meditating, and practicing Qi Gong.

ADDRESSES:

Agent—Weed Literary, LLC, 55 E. 65th St., Ste. 4E, New York, NY 10065.

CAREER:

Author, storyteller, and stage performer. Has performed at theatres and festivals in New York, NY, including Original Improv, Kraine Theater, Bitter End, New York International Fringe Festival, and Moth GrandSLAM Championships. Worked as a producer for Fox Television News.

WRITINGS:

(And performer) Tarot Reading: Love, Sex and Mommy (play), produced Off-Broadway, 2005.

The Devil, the Lovers, and Me: My Life in Tarot, Dutton (New York, NY), 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

At one time Kimberlee Auerbach was a producer for Fox Television News, but she decided to get out of television and focus her attention on her writing and storytelling. Auerbach has performed stories based on her life experiences at New York clubs like the Original Improv and the Bitter End. In an interview with Aaron Dobbs and Lilly Oei for the Web site Gothamist, Auerbach explained that she "feel[s] more alive, more connected on this earth," when she is being totally "free and open" about who she is in front of other people. So she shares her stories, which are infused with some of the most intimate details of her life, with her audiences.

Over the years of performing, Auerbach put together a one-woman show, weaving all her monologues into a series of tales with a common theme. She first performed Tarot Reading: Love, Sex and Mommy at the Fringe Festival in 2005. Auerbach described the show to Dobbs and Oei as "a spiritual journey. At the end, it's not about getting the thing you want so much, but about being OK with who you are in the present moment and being OK with this life."

Auerbach's book is taken from the stories she wrote for her show. She expanded them and created The Devil, the Lovers, and Me: My Life in Tarot. In an interview for Powell's Books, Auerbach said: "It's basically a flashback book that spans the course of one tarot reading in real time." Auerbach became interested in Tarot cards when she was a child, thinking that they might predict her future. Now she believes that the cards lead her to a deeper self-understanding. In her book, each chapter is named for one of the cards. As Auerbach put it: "The lesson of the card sparks a memory from my past." When asked why she writes, Auerbach responded: "I write to eliminate shame. I write to connect with my higher self. I write to touch the lives and hearts of people I don't know."

Auerbach's memoir received mixed reviews. A critic from Kirkus Reviews found aspects of the book unoriginal. However, the reviewer felt the sections that involved the author and her mother were "treated with surprising depth and humor." A Publishers Weekly critic called the book "an earnest, though light memoir." A reviewer for the Web site Fresh Fiction called it "exuberantly alive and refreshingly candid."