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Jennifer Finney Boylan

Goodreads author profile

born

The United States

gender

female

website

http://www.jenniferboylan.net

genre

Biographies & Memoirs, Literature & Fiction

member since

January 2008

About this author

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Jennifer Finney Boylan is a widely praised author and professor.

Edward Albee summed up her oeuvre in 1988: -- "Boylan observes carefully, and with love. [Her] levitating wit is wisely tethered to a humane concern…. I often broke into laughter, and was now and again, struck with wonder."

Jenny's memoir, She's Not There, published by Broadway Books in 2003, was one of the first bestselling works by a transgendered American; until 2001 she published under the name James Boylan. She's Not There, currently in its eighth printing, is popular both as a textbook in high schools and colleges as well as with readers's groups. The paperback edition contains a "readers guide" in addition to the main text, which consists not only of Jenny's insights on "...more Jennifer Finney Boylan is a widely praised author and professor.

Edward Albee summed up her oeuvre in 1988: -- "Boylan observes carefully, and with love. [Her] levitating wit is wisely tethered to a humane concern…. I often broke into laughter, and was now and again, struck with wonder."

Jenny's memoir, She's Not There, published by Broadway Books in 2003, was one of the first bestselling works by a transgendered American; until 2001 she published under the name James Boylan. She's Not There, currently in its eighth printing, is popular both as a textbook in high schools and colleges as well as with readers's groups. The paperback edition contains a "readers guide" in addition to the main text, which consists not only of Jenny's insights on "a life in two genders" but also includes an afterword by Pultizer Prize winner Richard Russo, whose friendship with James, and later with Jennifer, provides part of the books narrative.

She's Not There won an award from the Lambda LIterary Foundation in 2004, the year after its initial publication. The book has since been published in many foreign editions, and was an alternate selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club. Anna Quindlen called it “a very funny memoir of growing up confused, and a very smart consideration of what it means to be a woman.”

Her 2008 memoir, I'm Looking Through You, is about growing up in a haunted house. While trans issues form part of the exposition of the book, the primary focus of I'm Looking Through You is on what it means to be "haunted," and how we all seek to find peace with our various ghosts, both the supernatural and the all-too-human.

Jenny has been a frequent guest on a number of national television and radio programs, including three visits to the Oprah Winfrey Show. She has also appeared on the Larry King Show, The Today Show and been the subject of a documentary on CBS News’ 48 Hours. She has also appeared on a wide range of local and syndicated television shows, as well as NPR's Marketplace and the Diane Rehm show. In 2007 she played herself on two episodes of ABC's "All My Children." She has spoken widely around the country on gender and imagination, at venues including the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. and the New Jersey State Theatre. She has given plenary and keynote speeches at conferences on diversity and scholarship around the country, and at colleges and universities including Amherst, Wesleyan, Dartmouth, Columbia, Vanderbilt, Duke, Bucknell, Dickinson, Bates, Ohio State, Middlebury, Gettysburg, Georgia State, the University of Puget Sound, and Westminster College in Salt Lake City. She has spoken at law firms, at corporate events, and at bookstores from Seattle to Vermont.

Her nonfiction has appeared on the op/ed pages of the New York Times, in GQ magazine, Allure, and Glamour. She is also an ongoing contributor to Conde Nast Traveler magazine; her most recent work there was on Easter Island, published in the January 2007 issue.

Boylan's first book, a collection of stories entitled Remind Me To Murder You Later, was published by Johns Hopkins University Press in 1988. Her first novel, The Planets, was published in 1991 by Poseidon Press. (Simon and Schuster). Loosely based upon the classical piece of music by Gustav Holst, The Planets followed the lives of several fictional characters in the real town of Centralia, Pennsylvania, which has been afflicted by an underground coal fire since the early 1960s.

Her second novel, The Constellations follows the lives of several of the characters from The Planets, some of whom flee from angry cows, discover a latex brain, and begin a life of dognapping.

Her 1997 novel, Getting In, published by Warner Books, focused on four high school students who go on quests to get into college. The novel was optioned for film by Renny Harlin and Geena Davis, and Jenny was tapped to write the initial screenplay for New Line Cinema.

Born in 1958 in Valley Forge, Boylan(less)

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Jennifer Finney Boylan's Blog

The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti

I just finished this amazing book. Name drop goes here: my pal Russo told me to read it, and he was right. It's reminiscent of the Dickensian orphan/waif genre, but it's also a thing unique. I fell into this book while I was reading it and did not want to do anything else but dwell in the dark, merciless world of its hero. read more »

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Published on July 07, 2009 13:42 • 172 views • Tags: good, thief, tinti

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Books by Jennifer Finney Boylan

Average rating: 3.78 · 3,646 ratings · 593 reviews · 8 distinct works

	She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders 3.83 avg rating — 2,498 ratings — published 2003 — 7 editions	My rating:
	I'm Looking Through You: Growing Up Haunted 3.61 avg rating — 492 ratings — published 2008 — 11 editions	My rating:
	Falcon Quinn and the Black Mirror by Jennifer Finney Boylan (Goodreads Author), Brandon Dorman (Illustrations) 3.73 avg rating — 132 ratings — published 2010 — 10 editions	My rating:
	Getting In by Jennifer Finney Boylan (Goodreads Author), James Finney Boylan 3.34 avg rating — 59 ratings — published 1998 — 2 editions	My rating:
	The Planets by Jennifer Finney Boylan (Goodreads Author), James Finney Boylan 3.72 avg rating — 60 ratings — 5 editions	My rating:
	Falcon Quinn and the Crimson Vapor 4.00 avg rating — 39 ratings — published 2011 — 7 editions	My rating:
	The Constellations 3.51 avg rating — 35 ratings — published 1994 — 3 editions	My rating:
	How Beautiful the Ordinary: Twelve Stories of Identity by Michael Cart (editor), Francesca Lia Block, David Levithan (Goodreads Author) 3.75 avg rating — 296 ratings — published 2009 — 4 editions	My rating:
	Truth & Dare: 20 Tales of Heartbreak and Happiness by Liz Miles (Goodreads Author) (editor), Jennifer Finney Boylan (Goodreads Author), Sarah Rees Brennan (Goodreads Author) 3.43 avg rating — 30 ratings — published 2011 — 3 editions	My rating:

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Jennifer is Currently Reading

Jennifer is currently reading:

The Stand

by Stephen King

bookshelves: currently-reading

My rating:

Aug 14, 2009 06:12am

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Jennifer's Recent Updates

Jennifer gave to: Falcon Quinn and the Black Mirror by Jennifer Finney Boylan (Goodreads Author) read in June, 2010	My rating:
I wrote this book (with my middle school aged boys).
Jun 14, 2010 01:26pm · see review
Jennifer gave to: Alive in Necropolis by Doug Dorst (Goodreads Author) read in August, 2009	My rating:
Just finished ALIVE IN NECROPOLIS by Doug Dorst, a wild first novel that is equal measures hard-boiled cop story and zombie invasion. The tale starts out with the near-death of a young man in a cemetery-- he's rescued by our hero, Officer Mercer and...more
Aug 14, 2009 06:12am · see review
Jennifer is currently reading: The Stand by Stephen King	My rating:
Aug 14, 2009 06:12am
Jennifer gave to: On Writing by Stephen King recommended for: all writers read in August, 2009	My rating:
Steven King's ON WRITING is part memoir, part Elements of Style; it's also one of the most modest, generous, thoughtful, and succinct books on fiction writing I've ever read. Most how-to books on writing are full of blarney and mustard; Steve's book...more
Aug 14, 2009 06:07am · see review
Jennifer gave to: That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo read in August, 2009	My rating:
Rick Russo's new book contains some familiar, beloved elements for Russo-philes-- a devoted, exhausted wife; a smart, snarky daughter; an irritating mother who doesn't stop meddling, even after death--and at the center, a restless, loving soul, this...more
Aug 04, 2009 09:31am · see review
Jennifer added: Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris read in August, 2009	My rating:
Richard Russo sent me to this one. I'm essentially on the Rick Russo book club right now, having read THE GOOD THIEF at his urging just before this one. Enjoying Ferris high-wire act in this book a great deal, esp. the wild 1st person plural narratio...more
Aug 03, 2009 07:12am · see review
Jennifer gave to: The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger (Goodreads Author)	My rating:
Of all the books i've read in the last ten years, this is the one I most wish I'd written.
Jul 16, 2009 08:27am · see review
Jennifer added: The Good Thief by Hannah Tinti (Goodreads Author) read in July, 2009	My rating:
Jul 16, 2009 08:17am
Jennifer added: I'm Looking Through You: Growing Up Haunted by Jennifer Finney Boylan (Goodreads Author)	My rating:
Jul 07, 2009 01:56pm
Jennifer made a comment in the group Paranormal Romance & Urban Fantasy — Amazon Rank - Fight Discrimination topic "Jennifer Finney Boylan here. I'm one of the authors being blocked in searches, and have been "de-ranked." She's Not There was one of the first bestsel...more "
Apr 13, 2009 06:13am

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Quotes by Jennifer Finney Boylan

“Maybe . . . it's easier to have enemies than not to have them. . . . If you don't hate people, you have to learn to like them. . . . And liking people? That's not easy.”
― Jennifer Finney Boylan, Falcon Quinn and the Black Mirror

4 people liked it

“As it turns out, we're all still learning to be men, or women, all still learning to be ourselves. pg 197”
― Jennifer Finney Boylan, She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders

2 people liked it

“I feel like somebody who just got out of prison after 40 years for something she didn't do, like I got pardoned by the governor. When dear friends deal with me with mixed emotions, it is a little like being told, 'Well, Jenny, we're glad you got sprung, really, but quite honestly we did kind of like you better when you were in jail.”
― Jennifer Finney Boylan, She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders

2 people liked it

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Polls

Which book should we read in April?

Clear Water by Amy Lane

32 votes, 56.1%

Junction X by Erastes

19 votes, 33.3%

She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders by Jennifer Finney Boylan

3 votes, 5.3%

Black Blade Blues by J.A. Pitts

3 votes, 5.3%

57 total votes

7 comments

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Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
The Next Best Boo...: Gender Bender?	8	121	Oct 23, 2009 02:43pm
Trans-literati: Favorite books with transgendered characters	8	108	Oct 29, 2010 11:32am
Challenge: 2012 R...: Year Long "I Spy Title" Challenge	100	45	Feb 28, 2012 06:58am
Challenge: 2012 R...: New to You Challenge	89	40	Feb 28, 2012 07:30am
Challenge: 2012 R...: Trevor's Corner	48	24	Mar 02, 2012 10:32am
Rainbow Writers &...: April Group Read - Suggestions	6	19	Mar 25, 2012 05:24am
Rainbow Writers &...: Title Game	1127	137	May 10, 2012 09:40am
Challenge: 2012 R...: Trevor's Corner	8	26	May 29, 2012 02:16pm

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Jennifer's Bookshelves

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Jennifer Finney Boylan

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Jennifer Finney Boylan's Blog

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