Piper Kerman
{{Short description|American author (born 1969)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2014}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Piper Kerman
| image = Piper Kerman University of Missouri book signing (cropped).jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Kerman at the University of Missouri in 2014
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1969|09|28}}
| birth_place = Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
| alma_mater = Smith College
| notable_works = Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison
| occupation = {{flatlist|
- Writer
- author
- memoirist
}}
| spouse = {{marriage|Larry Smith|2006}}
| website = {{URL|piperkerman.com}}
{{URL|www.thepipebomb.com}}
}}
Piper Eressea Kerman{{cite news |work=The New York Times |department=Weddings & Celebrations |date=May 21, 2006 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/21/fashion/weddings/21kerm.html |title=Piper Kerman and Larry Smith |access-date= |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160127145904/https://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/21/fashion/weddings/21kerm.html |archive-date=2016-01-27 |url-status=live}} (born September 28, 1969) is an American author. She was indicted in 1998 on charges of felonious money-laundering activities, and sentenced to 15 months' detention in a federal correctional facility, of which she eventually served 13 months. Her memoir of her prison experiences, Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison (2010), was adapted into the critically-acclaimed Netflix comedy-drama series Orange Is the New Black (2013). Since leaving prison, Kerman has spoken widely about women in prison and problems with the federal prison system. She now works as a communication strategist for non-profit organizations.
Early life and education
Kerman was born in Boston into a family with a number of attorneys, doctors and educators.{{cite news |title=Prison Life, Real and Onscreen |first=Aimee Lee |last=Ball |date=2013-08-03 |orig-date=2013-08-02 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/fashion/prison-life-real-and-onscreen.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 |access-date= |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130806000502/https://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/04/fashion/prison-life-real-and-onscreen.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 |archive-date=2013-08-06 |url-status=live}} She graduated from Swampscott High School in Swampscott, Massachusetts, in 1987,{{cite web |url=http://patch.com/massachusetts/swampscott/orange-is-the-new-black-author-is-blue |title='Orange is the New Black' Author is Blue |last=Solomon |first=Jared |date=November 2, 2013 |publisher=Patch |access-date=December 4, 2015}} and Smith College in 1992. Kerman is a self-described WASP; however, she had a paternal grandfather who was Russian-Jewish.{{cite web |url=http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2013/07/29/orange-new-black |title=The Woman Behind 'Orange is the New Black' |last=Young |first=Robin |date=July 29, 2013 |work=WBUR-FM |publisher=Boston University |access-date=August 15, 2013 |archive-date=August 23, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130823182638/http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2013/07/29/orange-new-black |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=https://twitter.com/Piper/status/322346590687858690 |title=Response on Twitter |last=Kerman |first=Piper |date=April 11, 2013 |publisher=Twitter |access-date=January 12, 2015}}
Criminal career
In 1993, Kerman became romantically involved with Catherine Cleary Wolters, a heroin dealer affiliated with an alleged Nigerian drug kingpin. In Kerman's memoir, Wolters is referred to as Nora Janson, and she inspired the character Alex Vause, portrayed by Laura Prepon in the television series Orange Is the New Black.{{Cite web|url=http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2014/04/orange-is-the-new-black-real-alex|title = The Real Alex of Orange is the New Black Speaks for the First Time| website=Vanity Fair |date = April 15, 2014}} Kerman became involved in the drug operation by laundering money.{{cite web |last=Humphrey |first=Michael |date=March 25, 2010 |title=Ex-Convict Piper Kerman on Her Hot New Memoir, Orange Is the New Black |url=http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2010/03/piper_kerman.html |access-date=May 8, 2010 |publisher=New York Magazine}}
In 1998, Kerman was indicted on charges of money laundering and drug trafficking. She subsequently pled guilty to these charges. She was sentenced to 15 months in prison and served 13 months at FCI Danbury, Connecticut, starting in 2004.{{cite news|url=http://www.slate.com/id/2250034 |title=What's a Nice Blonde Like Me Doing in Prison?|work=Slate|author= Grose, Jessica|author-link= Jessica Grose|date= April 8, 2010}}
During her incarceration, Kerman created a website called [https://web.archive.org/web/20190809075136/http://www.thepipebomb.com/ The Pipe Bomb], where she chronicled her experiences in prison.{{cite web|last=Paige|first=Rachel|url=http://www.bustle.com/articles/95294-how-long-was-piper-in-prison-in-real-life-the-orange-is-the-new-black-author|title=How Long Was Piper In Prison In Real Life? The 'Orange Is The New Black' Author Documented Her Time With A Website|work=Bustle|date=July 23, 2015|access-date=April 13, 2016}}
Later career
Kerman's best-selling memoir about her experiences in prison, Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison, was published by Spiegel & Grau on April 6, 2010. A television adaptation of the same name created by Jenji Kohan, the Emmy award-winning creator of Weeds, premiered on July 11, 2013, on Netflix and aired for seven seasons. Kerman's character in the series ("Piper Chapman") is played by Taylor Schilling.
Orange is the New Black has received critical acclaim and won four Emmy Awards.{{cite web|url=http://www.indiewire.com/2016/02/why-netflix-renewed-orange-is-the-new-black-for-three-seasons-26254/|title=Why Netflix Renewed 'Orange is the New Black' for Three Seasons|work=Indiewire|date=February 5, 2016|access-date=May 11, 2018}}{{cite web|url=https://www.emmys.com/awards/nominations/award-search|title=Awards Search|publisher=Academy of Television Arts & Sciences|access-date=May 11, 2018}}
Kerman serves on the board of the Women's Prison Association and is frequently invited to speak to students of creative writing, criminology, gender and women's studies law, and sociology, and to groups, like the American Correctional Association's Disproportionate Minority Confinement Task Force, federal probation officers, public defenders, justice reform advocates and volunteers, book club and formerly and currently incarcerated people.{{citation needed|date=June 2015}}
On February 10, 2014, Kerman received the 2014 Justice Trailblazer Award from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice Center on Media, Crime & Justice.{{cite web|website=jjay.cuny.edu|url=http://johnjay.jjay.cuny.edu/acalendar/EventList.aspx?fromdate=2%2F10%2F2014&todate=2%2F10%2F2014&display=day&type=public&eventidn=6514&view=EventDetails&information_id=17659|title=2014 Justice Trailblazer Award Dinner - Honoring Piper Kerman, author of Orange is the New Black|date=February 10, 2014|access-date=July 1, 2015|archive-date=July 2, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150702120331/http://johnjay.jjay.cuny.edu/acalendar/EventList.aspx?fromdate=2%2F10%2F2014&todate=2%2F10%2F2014&display=day&type=public&eventidn=6514&view=EventDetails&information_id=17659|url-status=dead}}
On February 25, 2014, Kerman testified at a hearing on "Reassessing Solitary Confinement" before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights chaired by Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin.{{cite web|title=Testimony of Piper Kerman, author, Orange is the New Black|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0VPDvCGeqo |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211215/-0VPDvCGeqo |archive-date=2021-12-15 |url-status=live|publisher=YouTube|access-date=April 20, 2014|date=February 26, 2014}}{{cbignore}}
On August 4, 2015, Kerman testified at a hearing on "Oversight of the Bureau of Prisons: First-Hand Accounts of Challenges Facing the Federal Prison System" before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee chaired by Senator Ron Johnson.{{cite web|title=Testimony of Piper Kerman, author, Orange is the New Black|url=http://www.hsgac.senate.gov/hearings/oversight-of-the-bureau-of-prisons-first-hand-accounts-of-challenges-facing-the-federal-prison-system|publisher=Senate|access-date=August 4, 2015|date=August 4, 2015}}
Since 2015, Kerman has worked as a communications strategist for nonprofits.{{cite web|url=http://www.cityarts.net/event/piper-kerman/ |website=CityArts.net|title=Piper Kerman}}
Since her prison sentence, Kerman has spoken publicly many times on behalf of women in corrections and about her experience.{{Cite web|url=http://piperkerman.com/events/|title=Piper Kerman | Events}}
In 2019, she appeared as a guest in the last episode of Orange Is the New Black in the last scene in the Ohio prison, when Piper visited Alex. Kerman sat two seats to the left of Alex as a convict visited by her husband (in real life). She makes a cameo appearance in the show’s opening credits as the convict who blinks.
Personal life
Kerman has said, "I'm bisexual, so I'm a part of the gay community (LGBT+)".{{cite web|url=http://www.lstylegstyle.com/stories/the-real-piper-of-orange-is-the-new-black/|title=The REAL Piper of Orange is the New Black|author=Lynn Yeldell|work=L Style G Style|access-date=June 12, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170617151356/http://www.lstylegstyle.com/stories/the-real-piper-of-orange-is-the-new-black/|archive-date=June 17, 2017|url-status=dead|df=mdy-all}} She came out around the age of 18, and identified herself as a lesbian during most of her youth. On May 21, 2006, Kerman married writer Larry Smith, a few months after he started publishing Smith Magazine. Kerman and Smith live in Columbus, Ohio, and she teaches writing classes at the Marion Correctional Institution and the Ohio Reformatory for Women in nearby Marysville, Ohio.{{cite web|url=http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/06/02/piper-kerman-speech.html|title='Orange Is the New Black' author Piper Kerman shares her story in Westerville|author=Jeannie Nuss|work=The Columbus Dispatch|access-date=September 17, 2015|archive-date=August 22, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150822074232/http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/06/02/piper-kerman-speech.html|url-status=dead}}{{cite news|last1=Nuss|first1=Jeannie|title=Author of 'Orange Is The New Black' explains move to Columbus|url=http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/life_and_entertainment/2015/05/31/1-author-of-orange-explains-ohio-move.html|access-date=May 31, 2015|work=The Columbus Dispatch|date=May 31, 2015|archive-date=June 2, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150602000416/http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/life_and_entertainment/2015/05/31/1-author-of-orange-explains-ohio-move.html|url-status=dead}} She was awarded the 'Humanist Heroine of the Year Award' from the 'Humanist Hub' group at Harvard University.Scene and Heard: Piper Kerman | Magazine | The Harvard Crimson. (n.d.). https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2015/4/9/scene-and-heard-piper/
Works
- Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison
- Finding My Way Back
See also
- Teresa Giudice, reality star and media personality whose prison memoir, Turning the Tables (2015), describes her 15-month incarceration from 2015 to 2016, for fraud, at the Federal Correctional Institution, Danbury, CT
- Martha Stewart, celebrity who was incarcerated from 2004 to 2005, for offenses related to insider trading, at Federal Prison Camp, Alderson, WV
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{official website|http://piperkerman.com}}
- [http://thepipebomb.com/ thepipebomb.com] - The website about her incarceration (mentioned in location 945/4958 of the OITNB ebook)
- {{IMDb name|5246353}}
- {{C-SPAN|9267934}}
- {{cite web|title=Ubben Lecture |website= DePauw University|date= February 4, 2005|url= http://www.depauw.edu/news-media/latest-news/details/31461/}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Orange Is the New Black}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerman, Piper}}
Category:People from West Long Branch, New Jersey
Category:American people convicted of drug offenses
Category:People convicted of money laundering
Category:American women memoirists
Category:Bisexual women writers
Category:American LGBTQ rights activists
Category:American prison reformers
Category:LGBTQ people from Massachusetts
Category:American people of Russian-Jewish descent
Category:Orange Is the New Black
Category:21st-century American women writers
Category:21st-century American memoirists
Category:21st-century American LGBTQ people