Gay Courter


Gay Courter is an American author, filmmaker, and children's rights activist. Her first novel, The Midwife was a New York Times bestseller, and was one of the best selling books of 1982. Five of her books have been on the New York Times Bestseller list. She is credited as one of the first authors—and the first woman—to write a published novel on a word processor.
Her first non-fiction book The Beansprout Book introduced beansprouts to the supermarkets of America and became known as "the pied piper of sprouting."
I Speak For This Child: True Stories of a Child Advocate, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Her works have been translated into many languages, including French, Spanish, and Swedish.

Biography

Courter was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Leonard M. Weisman, an international businessman, and Elsie Spector Weisman, a social worker who studied at Carnegie Tech. She is the elder of two daughters. Her sister, Robin Madden, M.D., is a pediatrician. Her foster sister, Jennifer Chang Su, began living with the family while they were in Taiwan in 1952, and she has remained a close family member.
Courter attended schools in Taiwan and Japan, and was homeschooled by her mother during their travels. When in the United States, she attended public schools in Mt. Vernon, New York, and graduated from AB Davis High School. Following graduation, Courter attended Antioch College and received a B.A. in Drama/Film in 1966.   
She worked in the documentary and educational film business in New York with Harvest Productions, ACI Films, and Concord Productions from 1967 to 1970.  She co-founded Courter Films and Associates with husband Philip Courter in 1972. Since then, they have produced more than 300 documentary, educational, and corporate films.  
Courter has been a vocal supporter of children's rights. 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 many television appearances including the Today Show, Good Morning America, and 20/20.
Courter currently lives in Crystal River, Florida, with her husband, Philip Courter.  They are the parents of Blake Courter, an engineer and specialist in 3-D printing; Joshua Courter, a filmmaker and furniture designer; and Ashley Rhodes-Courter, MSW, a motivational speaker, social worker, and author of the New York Times bestseller, Three Little Words and its sequel Three More Words.
Courter is also a travel writer for Creators Syndicate and other outlets. She is a member of the North American Travel Journalists Association, The Authors Guild, and Writers Guild of America.
In February 2020, Courter was one of 3700 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. The Atlantic published a piece by Courter, detailing her trip in Asia, her time on the Diamond Princess Cruise Ship, and her experience in quarantine once back in the United States.
She and her husband spent time being quarantined on the ship before arriving to the United States and into quarantine in Texas. While on the ship she wrote a book proposal about life in quarantine, and said she fear she and her husband suffer from symptoms of PTSD.

Critical comments

Literary styles and themes

Courter has written novels in both the first person and third person narrative styles. Her literary landscape is varied, but she often writes about places and situations with which she is familiar. Many of her stories are based in places where she has 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 notoriously helped the Israeli cause by procuring munitions and purchased an aircraft carrier for their navy. Her work features women who pioneer in their fields and who triumph over adversity. Courter has been said to use engaging narratives to make historical events, such as the transfer of obstetrical care from midwives to obstetricians and Israel's struggles for independence more accessible to the average reader.

Film producer

Together with her husband, Philip, Gay has produced more than 200 documentary and educational films for more than thirty years.
Their PBS productions include Freedom From Famine: The Norman Borlaug Story, Solutions Micro.doc series, Where’s My Chance? The Case for America’s Children, and The Florida Water Story.
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 accepted 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

Since becoming a Guardian ad Litem in Florida, Gay Courter has been advocating for children on a local and national level. Her book, I Speak For This Child brought worldwide attention to the issues of children languishing in foster care. She and her husband Philip Courter turned the focus of their film company into documenting the plight of these children and offering solutions and best practices. They have produced over 75 films for public television, legislators, judges, child welfare workers, adoptive and foster parents, including ones specifically for state supreme court justices, state attorneys general, children's rights lobbyists, juvenile justice stakeholders, abuse prevention, and permanency planning. They have received support for these projects from major foundations including the Pew Charitable Trust, David and Lucille Packard foundation, The Dave Thomas foundation for Adoption, and the American Humane Association.
Gay Courter has appeared, as an advocate, in the press, on national television and spoken widely at conferences promoting Court-appointed Special Advocates, Guardians ad litem, foster and adoptive parenting. 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.

Awards and honors

Novels