Melissa Febos is the author of four books, including the nationally bestselling essay collection, “Girlhood,” which is a LAMBDA Literary Award finalist and won the National Book Critics Circle Award in criticism. GIRLHOOD was named a notable book of 2021 by NPR, Time, The Washington Post, and others.
The recipient of a 2022 Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, a 2022 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship, and the Jeanne Córdova Nonfiction Award from LAMBDA Literary, Melissa's work has appeared in publications including The Paris Review, The Sun, The Kenyon Review, Tin House, Granta, The Believer, McSweeney’s, The New York Times Magazine, The Guardian, Elle, and Vogue. She is an associate professor at the University of Iowa, where she teaches in the Nonfiction Writing Program.
Her latest publication is her craft book, “Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative.” “Body Work" is a national bestseller and an Indie Next Pick. Drawing on her own path from aspiring writer to acclaimed author and writing professor - via addiction and recovery, sex work and academia - Febos has created a captivating guide to the writing about life.