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The Progress Network is based at the organization New America.

Jennifer Finney
Boylan

Writer

Jennifer writes about: Gender, Society

Photo Credit: © 2019 Dan Haar

Professor Jennifer Finney Boylan, author of 16 books, is the inaugural Anna Quindlen Writer in Residence at Barnard College of Columbia University. A Contributing Opinion Writer at The New York Times, her column appears on the op/ed page on alternate Wednesdays.

She serves on the Board of Trustees of PEN America, the nonprofit advocating for authors, readers, and freedom of expression. From 2011 to 2018 she served on the Board of Directors of GLAAD; she was co-chair of GLAAD’s board of directors from 2013 to 2017. She also is a member of the faculty of the Breadloaf Writers’ Conference of Middlebury College and the Sirenland Writers’ Conference in Positano, Italy.

She has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the Kinsey Institute for Research on Sex, Gender, and Reproduction, and also provided counsel for the TV series Transparent and I Am Cait.

Her most recent book is the memoir Good Boy: My Life in 7 Dogs, published by Celadon/Macmillan in April of 2020. Her next book project is a novel co-authored with Jodi Picoult, slated for publication in autumn of 2022 by Ballantine/Random House.

Her 2003 memoir, She’s Not There: A Life in Two Genders, was the first bestselling work by a transgender American. A novelist, memoirist, and short story writer, she is also a nationally known advocate for human rights. Jenny has appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show on four occasions; Live with Larry King twice; the Today Show, the Barbara Walters Special, NPR’s Marketplace and Talk of the Nation; she has also been the subject of documentaries on CBS News’ 48 Hours and The History Channel.

What are these special rights I want? The same ones everybody else has. What is my gay agenda? It is the hope to live my life in peace.

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IF YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES:

The First Time I Said, ‘I’m Trans’

Looking back on two decades in which things got better and much worse.

IF YOU HAVE FIVE MORE:

Harry Potter and the Scales of Justice

A little bit of good news, in a dire month for LGBTQ people

IF YOU HAVE SEVEN:

We Happy Trans

Seven questions with Jennifer Finney Boylan

WATCH A VIDEO:

American Writers Museum

Kathy Griffin speaks with Jennifer Finney Boylan

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