New York, NY, March 10, 2016—Simon & Schuster announced today that it will publish Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s My Own Words, which is her first book since becoming a Supreme Court Justice in 1993. World rights were acquired by Alice Mayhew, Vice President and Editorial Director of Simon & Schuster, from Esther Newberg, ICM Partners. The book will be available in hardcover, ebook, and audio in January 2017.

My Own Words will be a selection of writings and speeches by Justice Ginsburg on wide-ranging topics, including gender equality, the workways of the Supreme Court, on being Jewish, on law and lawyers in opera, and on the value of looking beyond U.S. shores when interpreting the U.S. Constitution. Throughout her life Justice Ginsburg has been (and continues to be) a prolific writer and public speaker. The writings will be selected by Justice Ginsburg and her authorized biographers Mary Hartnett (Adjunct Professor, Georgetown Law) and Wendy W. Williams (Professor Emerita, Georgetown Law).  Justice Ginsburg will write an introduction to the book, and Hartnett and Williams will write introductions to each of the chapters, giving brief biographical context and including limited quotes from a few of the hundreds of interviews they have conducted for their forthcoming biography of Justice Ginsburg, which Simon & Schuster will publish at a date to be determined.

“Simon & Schuster is proud and thrilled to publish My Own Words by Justice Ginsburg in anticipation of her authorized biography,” says Alice Mayhew. “Justice Ginsburg is one of the most important and articulate legal thinkers and interpreters in the country.  She is also a witty and engaged writer and speaker, and I am personally delighted to have another opera lover on board.”

Ruth Bader Ginsburg is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. Ginsburg was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1993. She is the second female justice (after Sandra Day O’Connor) and one of three female justices currently serving on the Supreme Court (along with Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan).   Prior to her appointment to the Supreme Court, she was nominated by President Jimmy Carter and served from 1980 to 1993 on the bench of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.  In 1972, before becoming a judge, then Professor Ginsburg was instrumental in launching the Women’s Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union.  Throughout the 1970s she litigated a series of cases solidifying a constitutional principle against gender-based discrimination.  From 1972 to 1980 Justice Ginsburg was a professor at Columbia University School of Law; from 1963 to 1972, she served on the law faculty of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.  Born in Brooklyn, NY, she lives in Washington, D.C.

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Contact:  Julia Prosser, Simon & Schuster, 212-698-7529, julia.prosser@simonandschuster.com