Kate Fagan is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and the No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of WHAT MADE MADDY RUN, which was a semi-finalist for the PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sportswriting. Her first book was the coming-of-age memoir THE REAPPEARING ACT, and her third book, ALL THE COLORS CAME OUT, was released in May 2021 from Little, Brown. In March of 2023, her fourth book — HOOP MUSES: an insider’s guide to pop culture and the (women’s) game — a collaboration with WNBA legend Seimone Augustus and artist Sophia Chang was released by Twelve. Kate previously spent seven years as a columnist and feature writer for espnW, ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine. She was also a regular panelist on ESPN's Around the Horn and host of Outside the Lines. Kate covered the Philadelphia 76ers for three seasons and played college basketball at the University of Colorado. She lives in Charleston, South Carolina with her wife, Kathryn Budig, and their dog, Ragnar.
Before joining the ESPN staff, she worked as the Philadelphia Inquirer's beat writer for the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers. As an ESPN writer beginning in 2012, Fagan also made regular TV appearances on Around the Horn and First Take. She co-hosted The Trifecta with Spain, Jane and Kate with Sarah Spain and Jane McManus on espnW and Will and Kate with Will Cain on ESPN Radio. Fagan's piece "Owning the Middle", a profile of basketball player Brittney Griner for ESPN The Magazine, was selected for inclusion in Glenn Stout's "Notable Sports Writing of 2013". In May 2017, Fagan started a podcast on ESPN called Free Cookies, which she co-hosted with her partner, yoga instructor Kathryn Budig. Fagan left ESPN at the end of 2018.
In 2014, Fagan authored The Reappearing Act: Coming Out as Gay on a College Basketball Team Led by Born-Again Christians through Skyhorse Publishing. The memoir chronicles Fagan's experiences on the Colorado women's basketball team. Her second book, What Made Maddy Run, about Madison Holleran, a University of Pennsylvania track and field athlete who took her own life in 2014, was released on August 1, 2017. Her book delves into the pressure that young people, especially young women, face in regards to social media, specifically Instagram. She brings to light the disparities between Holleran's depressive reality, and the fun and filtered photos that she posted on Instagram.
Speaking Topics:
- Generational Mental Health
- Gender Equity in Media Sports
- LGBT Issues
