Peggy Orenstein has written three books, most recently Waiting for Daisy: A Tale of Two Continents, Three Religions, Five Infertility Doctors, An Oscar, An Atomic Bomb, A Romantic Night and One Woman's Quest to Become a Mother (Bloomsbury: 2007). Waiting for Daisy is a 2007 Kirkus Best Book, a New York Times Best Seller, a Seattle Post-Intelligencer Top 10 Book of 2007 and the winner of the Books For a Better Life Award.  Critics have called the book “honest, fascinating, and wholly enlightening" and “thoughtful, biting, reflective, as filled with fruitful self-doubt and cautious exuberance, as its author."

Waiting for Daisy is a memoir of Orenstein’s six-year struggle to become a mother in the face of infertility, which begins “just as professional women are warned by the media to heed the ticking of their biological clocks, and just as fertility clinics have become a boom industry.” Her desire to become a mother takes her to Asia in search of both medical and spiritual answers. As Orenstein meets one obstacle after another, she struggles to keep her marriage together.

Orenstein was recognized for her “Outstanding Coverage of Family Diversity,” by the Council on Contemporary Families and has been awarded fellowships from the United States-Japan Foundation and the Asian Cultural Council. Her previous books include Flux: Women on Sex, Work, Kids, Love and Life in a Half-Changed WorldSchoolGirls: Young Women, Self-Esteem and the Confidence Gap. A contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, Orenstein has also written for such publications as The Los Angeles Times, Vogue, Elle, Discover, More, Mother Jones and O: The Oprah Magazine.

 Lauren Kessler, professor and director of the Literary Nonfiction Program at the School of Journalism and Communication, who introduced Orenstein, said before  the event that she hopes that Johnston Lecture attendees “take away the enormous enthusiasm, dedication and energy that authors bring to their craft.” This is especially true of Orenstein who Kessler says, “is on top of her game. She has accomplished so much and done so on the West Coast. So many authors feel that they have to go to New York to make it, but Orenstein proves that this just isn’t the case.” 

The Johnston Lecture is part of the Richard W. Johnston Project at the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication that honors Richard Johnston ’36, a gifted magazine editor, writer and war correspondent. The Richard W. Johnston Project brings professionals to the school for campus lectures, workshops, and discussions with students, faculty members, and members of the community.