Meet the Writers
William Prochnau
William Prochnau, a contributing editor to Vanity Fair and award-winning journalist, is the author of five books including the highly acclaimed “Once Upon a Distant War.” His latest work, “Miracle on the Hudson,” is co-authored with his wife, Laura Parker, and the survivors of U.S. Airways Flight 1549. Miracle is an aviation drama unlike few before it, written like a fast-paced adventure novel but true to the last detail of courage and fear as told by the survivors of what seemed an almost certainly doomed flight. It will be on the bookstands October 13, 2009. Prochnau is considered one of the county’s more eclectic writers. He is widely known as a commentator on journalism, daily newspapers and the media. A former Washington Post national reporter, his novel “Trinity’s Child” is a thriller that grew out of his journalistic research on the threat of nuclear arms. “Once Upon a Distant War” is one of the most heralded nonfiction works on war correspondents.
Laura Parker
Laura Parker has been a journalist for more than 25 years. She covered aviation for The Washington Post and later spent 10 years as a national correspondent for USA Today. One of the few journalists to have been awarded both the Patterson and Nieman fellowships, she now writes collaborative articles with her husband, William Prochnau, for Vanity Fair, where he is a contributing editor. “Miracle on the Hudson” is their first collaborative book. It was written on behalf of the survivors of US Airways Flight 1549. To tell their story, Parker and Prochnau interviewed 120 of the 150 passengers on board about their most private thoughts and deepest fears. As a result, the book is an aviation drama unlike any other, written like a fast-paced adventure novel, but true to the last detail. It may be the first book in which readers of non-fiction will find themselves inside the cabin of a crashing airliner, riding it all the way down with terrified passengers who expect the worst. It is the story of what every airline passenger fears: what would you think and do if you knew your plane was crashing? But the book is also a tale of hope and inspiration. After the plane crash-landed on the Hudson River on one of the coldest days of 2009, the determined survivors worked courageously as a team to make sure that they all survived until their rescuers arrived.
