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Jennifer Finney Boylan

Biography

Jennifer Finney Boylan

Jennifer Finney Boylan is the author of 19 books, including MAD HONEY, coauthored with Jodi Picoult. Her memoir, SHE'S NOT THERE, was the first bestselling work by a transgender American.

Since 2014, she has been the inaugural Anna Quindlen Writer in Residence at Barnard College of Columbia University. She is also on the faculty of the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference of Middlebury College and the Sirenland Writers Conference in Positano, Italy. She is the President of PEN America, and from 2011 to 2018 she was a member of the Board of Directors of GLAAD, including four years as national cochair. In 2022-23, she was a Fellow at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. She graduated from Wesleyan University and Johns Hopkins, and she holds doctorates honoris causa from Sarah Lawrence College, the New School and Wesleyan University.

For many years she was a contributing opinion writer for the opinion section of the New York Times. Her work has also appeared in the New Yorker, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, Literary Hub, Down East, and many other publications. She lives in Maine and New York with her wife, Deirdre. They have two children: a daughter, Zai, and a son, Sean.

Jennifer Finney Boylan

Books by Jennifer Finney Boylan

by Jennifer Finney Boylan - Gender Studies, Memoir, Nonfiction

SHE’S NOT THERE was the first bestselling work written by a transgender American. Since its publication 20 years ago, Jennifer Finney Boylan has become the go-to person for insight into the impact of gender on our lives. But CLEAVAGE is more than a deep dive into gender identity; it’s also a look at the difference between coming out as trans in 2000 --- when many people reacted to Boylan’s transition with love --- and the present era of blowback and fear. How does gender affect our sense of self? Our body image? The passage of time? The friends we lose --- and keep? Boylan considers her womanhood, reflects on the boys and men who shaped her, and reconceives of herself as a writer, activist, parent and spouse.

by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan - Fiction, Women's Fiction

Olivia McAfee’s picture-perfect life was upended when her husband revealed a darker side. She never imagined that she would end up back in her sleepy New Hampshire hometown with her son, Asher. Meanwhile, Lily Campanello and her mom relocate to Adams, New Hampshire, for her final year of high school for what they hope will be a fresh start. For just a short while, these new beginnings are exactly what Olivia and Lily need. Their paths cross when Asher falls for the new girl in school, and Lily can’t help but fall for him, too. Then one day, Olivia receives a phone call: Lily is dead, and Asher is being questioned by the police. Olivia is adamant that her son is innocent. But as the case against him unfolds, she realizes he’s hidden more than he’s shared with her.

by Jennifer Finney Boylan - Memoir, Nonfiction

In her New York Times opinion column, Jennifer Finney Boylan wrote about her relationship with her beloved dog Indigo, and her wise, funny, heartbreaking piece went viral. In GOOD BOY, Boylan explores what should be the simplest topic in the world, but never is: finding and giving love. This is a universal account of a remarkable story: showing how a young boy became a middle-aged woman --- accompanied at seven crucial moments of growth and transformation by seven memorable dogs. Their love enables us to pull off what seem like impossible feats: to find our way home when we are lost, to live our lives with humor and courage, and above all, to best become our true selves.

by Jennifer Finney Boylan - Fiction, Suspense, Thriller

In 1980, six college students sneak into the dilapidated ruins of Philadelphia’s Eastern State Penitentiary, looking for a thrill. But it’s not long before they realize they are locked in --- and not alone. When the friends get lost and separated, the terrifying night ends in tragedy, and the unexpected, far-reaching consequences reverberate through the survivors’ lives. Decades later, the dogged detective investigating the cold case charges one of them --- celebrity chef Jon Casey --- with murder. Only Casey’s old friend, Judith Carrigan, can testify to his innocence. But Judith is protecting long-held secrets of her own --- secrets that, if brought to light, could destroy her career as a travel writer and tear her away from her fireman husband and teenage son.