Laurie Frankel
{{Short description|American writer}}
Laurie Frankel is an American novelist, essayist, and public speaker. She has written several novels including This is How it Always Is, which received generally positive reviews, despite stirring controversy of its subject matter of a child's gender transition. Frankel is an advocate for transgender rights.
Writings
Though she had already published two novels to critical acclaim,{{Cite news |last=Marler |first=Regina |date=2012-10-19 |title=Fiction Chronicle |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/21/books/review/goodbye-for-now-by-laurie-frankel-and-more.html |access-date=2023-09-05 |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web |date=2012-08-03 |title='Goodbye for Now': Laurie Frankel's novel of love, grief and digital resurrection |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/books/goodbye-for-now-laurie-frankels-novel-of-love-grief-and-digital-resurrection/ |access-date=2023-09-05 |website=The Seattle Times |language=en-US}} Frankel rose to notoriety when her essay, "From He To She In First Grade" was published in the New York Times' Modern Love column in 2016.{{Cite news |last=Frankel |first=Laurie |date=2016-09-16 |title=From He to She in First Grade |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/18/fashion/modern-love-transgender-child-identity-parenting.html |access-date=2023-09-05 |issn=0362-4331}} The essay, which chronicled Frankel's daughter's transition from male to female at age six, provoked angry reactions from many readers who thought allowing her young child to choose a different gender than the one she was assigned at birth was "ruining this country". "A lot of people wrote wishing for my death, and that of my kid," she told WBUR in an interview.{{Cite web |title=From He To She In First Grade {{!}} With Jennifer Beals |url=https://www.wbur.org/modernlove/2018/02/28/from-he-to-she-in-first-grade-beals-frankel |access-date=2023-09-05 |website=www.wbur.org |language=en}} The essay was followed by the publication of her novel This Is How It Always Is in 2016. The novel, a fictional account of a large family of five boys, the youngest of whom becomes a girl, garnered Frankel rave reviews{{Cite news |last=Rosin |first=Hanna |date=2017-02-10 |title=In Transition: A Novel About What Happens When a Son Becomes a Daughter |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/10/books/review/this-is-how-it-always-is-laurie-frankel.html |access-date=2023-09-05 |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web |date= |title=This Is How It Always Is by Laurie Frankel |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9781250088550 |access-date=2023-09-05 |website=www.publishersweekly.com}}{{Cite book |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/laurie-frankel/this-is-how-it-always-is/ |title=THIS IS HOW IT ALWAYS IS {{!}} Kirkus Reviews |language=en}} and bestseller status.{{Cite web |title=This Is How It Always Is |url=https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250088567/thisishowitalwaysis |access-date=2023-09-05 |website=Macmillan Publishers}} Her fifth novel, Family Family, is scheduled for release by Henry Holt and Company on January 23, 2024.https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250236807/family-family
Advocacy
Frankel is an outspoken advocate for transgender rights;{{Cite web |title=Laurie Frankel on Transgender Protections and Bathroom Bills |url=https://people.com/health/novelist-laurie-frankel-transgender-rights-op-ed/ |access-date=2023-09-05 |website=Peoplemag |language=en}} she has also written openly about adoption as a choice she and her husband willingly made rather than as a last resort for parents who cannot beget their own children.{{Cite news |last=Frankel |first=Laurie |date=2017-03-18 |title=Laurie Frankel: We adopted by choice not necessity |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/mar/18/laurie-frankel-we-adopted-by-choice-not-necessity |access-date=2023-09-05 |issn=0261-3077}}
Awards
Novels
- The Atlas Of Love (2009)
- Goodbye For Now (2012)
- This Is How It Always Is (2017)
- One, Two, Three (2021)
- Family Family (2024)
References
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Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:21st-century American novelists
Category:American women novelists