Transgender writer and professor Jennifer Finney Boylan gave Chicagoans a preview of her first novel in 10 years Nov. 7. The reading, which was held at Francis W. Parker School in Lincoln Park, is part of this year's Chicago Humanities Festival, "The Body," which runs through Nov. 14.
The Colby College professor read unfinished excerpts from her upcoming book, I'll Give Ya Something to Cry About, due out in 2012. She also read a piece from her memoir, which will be included in Dan Savage's upcoming anthology of "It Gets Better" stories for LGBTQ youth.
Author of 11 books, Boylan is best known for her 2003 memoir She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders. The memoir won her a Lambda Literary Foundation Award in 2004.
I'll Give Ya Something to Cry About marks Boylan's first novel under her female name. When asked by an audience member if her work had changed since her transition from male to female, she suggested that time has had more of an impact on her writing.
"Writers are one of the few artists who tend to get better with age," Boylan said.
—Kate Sosin
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