ILLUMINATION Writer Bios

Introducing Martin Hirsch

My Medium bio describes me as a “Lapsed singer-song-writer, 35-year company man, citizen of The Woodstock Nation, avid essayist, occasional poet, aspiring author and dogged evolutionary.”

The photo of me you see was taken on a motorless ferry boat gliding across the Rhine in Basel, Switzerland. The tall, white, pyramid-shaped building in the background is the global headquarters of the pharmaceutical company where I worked for most of my professional life — the first 20 right outside of New York City and the last 15 there in Basel. I got my corporate communications job on the strength of my writing, and although it may not have hit the bullseye on the target of my ultimate dream job, it turned into a wonderful career that introduced me to countless remarkable people, enabled me to travel the world, and gave me the security and experience to pursue the writer’s life on my own terms today.

Now, back in New York and facing another of my life’s great transitions, I’ve been writing about the convergence of my past and present, making observations from my own perspective that hopefully resonate with and provide insight and inspiration to others. My topics range from the 50th anniversary of Woodstock in the summer of 2019 to The Great Disruption of the summer of 2020, to my experiences with suicide, gender identity issues, interracial marriage, lifelong friendship and the horror of bedbugs. I’m indebted to Dr Mehmet Yildiz for giving me the opportunity to express myself in Illumination.