Melissa Febos is the author of Whip Smart; Abandon Me; Girlhood, a national bestseller and National Book Critics Circle finalist; and Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative. She is a recipient of the Jeanne Córdova Prize from Lambda Literary and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund, MacDowell, and other awards. She is an associate professor at the University of Iowa.

(Photo credit: Beowulf Sheehan)