Advertisement

Candace Bushnell’s next book asks, ‘Is There Still Sex in the City?’

Writer Candace Bushnell attends the Elton John AIDS Foundation's 17th Annual An Enduring Vision Benefit at Cipriani on Nov. 5, 2018 in New York City.
Writer Candace Bushnell attends the Elton John AIDS Foundation’s 17th Annual An Enduring Vision Benefit at Cipriani on Nov. 5, 2018 in New York City.
(Angela Weiss / AFP/Getty Images)
Share via

More than 20 years after her essay collection “Sex and the City” hit bookshelves and spawned a hit television adaptation, author Candace Bushnell is asking a new question: “Is There Still Sex in the City?”

That’s the title of Bushnell’s next book, due for release in August from publisher Grove Atlantic, People magazine reported.

Bushnell said her book will explore what it’s like to navigate the dating scene for people in their 50s and 60s. The author, 60, divorced her husband, ballet dancer Charles Askegard, in 2012.

Advertisement

Bushnell described the book as “autofiction,” a genre that blends autobiography and fiction.

“I wanted to call the book ‘Middle-Aged Madness,’” Bushnell told the magazine. “You have to understand that in the past nobody thought that fifty-something people would need to go on dating apps and take their clothes off in front of strangers. Nobody ever thinks that that’s what their fifties are going to look like.”

Grove Atlantic described “Is There Still Sex in the City?” as “a pull-no-punches social commentary and an indispensable companion to one of the most revolutionary dating books of the twentieth century.”

Advertisement

Among the topics Bushnell explores are dating using the Tinder smartphone app, restorative genital surgery and the “Unintended Cub Situation” — what arises when an older woman has a relationship with a significantly younger man.

Bushnell’s “Sex and the City” became a bestseller upon its release in 1997, and formed the basis for the popular HBO show of the same name, which debuted the following year. The show, starring Sarah Jessica Parker, was a television phenomenon, lasting six years and earning dozens of Emmy and Golden Globe nominations.

She followed up “Sex and the City” with a series of books, including the novels “Trading Up,” “Lipstick Jungle” and “One Fifth Avenue.” She also wrote two young-adult novels, “The Carrie Diaries” and “Summer and the City,” which served as prequels to “Sex and the City, following protagonist Carrie Bradshaw as a teenager. Her most recent book, “Killing Monica,” was released in 2015.

Advertisement

Bushnell told People that her new book will be a “really humorous take on the things that I’ve noticed people are experiencing in middle age.”

“One of the things you realize is that everybody has some bad stuff happen to them,” she said. “By the time you get into your fifties, everyone’s had some bad stuff happen. And these friendships become really important because this is a time when I think a lot of women will find themselves on their own again for the first time in years.”

Advertisement