Introducing the Writer: Jia Tolentino
The writer I chose to spotlight is Jia Tolentino. Tolentino is a staff writer at the New Yorker, and is the author of Trick Mirror, a series of essays, that since coming out in August, has made a big splash on the literary scene. She is fairly new to the powerhouse writer stage, with her debut book being, so far, what has gotten her foot in the door. She is also known for some longer culture pieces in the New Yorker; she has profiled Ty Haney, the CEO and founder of the athleisure brand Outdoor Voices, and done some longer critical pieces on politics and millennial culture. Tolentino received her undergraduate degree in English from University of Virginia before leaving for the Peace Corps for a year. She returned to the U.S. and attended University of Michigan for an MFA in Fiction. Following her masters, Tolentino worked as a deputy editor at Jezebel.
I chose this writer because I think she has a very unique voice and sharp critiques on our current culture. I think she is one of the first prominent voices to come out of the millennial generation, or anyone that grew up with the internet in their hands. I am also fascinated by her background, and that she studied fiction writing for 3 years, and became a culture critic and a writer of brilliant nonfiction essays. (It reassures me, because I am unsure of what I want to study in terms of nonfiction or fiction, so maybe, I can do a little bit of both and turn out okay.) Tolentino is a fresh new voice that will make an impact on our current culture — I think people should know her name if they don’t already.
