Giffords to give first TV interview in November

Gabrielle Giffords, the Arizona congresswoman who survived an assassination attempt in January, will give her first television interview since the shooting to ABC journalist Diane Sawyer in November, ABC News said on Monday.

Giffords and her astronaut husband Mark Kelly will talk about her recovery from a near-fatal shot to the head in a TV special to be broadcast on November 14.

The interview will be aired in conjunction with the release on November 15 of a memoir by the couple called Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope.

Giffords, 41, has made few public appearances since being shot by a gunman while holding a political event in Tucson, Arizona on January 8. Six people were killed and another 12 were wounded in the shooting.

College dropout Jared Loughner who was arrested and jailed for being the shooter has been declared mentally incompetent to stand trial.

Giffords has been receiving intensive physical therapy in Houston to recover her ability to walk, speak, read and write. She has not yet decided whether to run for reelection next year, her spokesman said in August.

Kelly commanded the final mission of the U.S. space shuttle Endeavor earlier this year before announcing his retirement from NASA in June to focus on his wife's recovery. The couple will also talk about their marriage and their lives in public service, ABC said.