Jen Soriano

Jen Soriano (she/they) is a Filipinx-American writer, independent scholar, and performer who has long worked at the intersection of grassroots organizing, narrative strategy, and art-driven social change.

They are the author of the chapbook "Making the Tongue Dry," and the lyric essay collection "Nervous," which won the 2024 Memoir Prize, the Housatonic Book Award, and the American Book Fest prize for books about mental health and psychology.

They are also co-editor of the anthology "Closer to Liberation: Pina/xy Activism in Theory and Practice" and author of "Multiplicity From the Margins," which explores the potential of intersectional form to disrupt oppressive narratives and expand narrow worldviews. 

Jen is a grateful recipient of fellowships from Artist Trust, Hugo House, the Jack Jones Literary Arts Retreat, and Vermont Studio Center. They received a BA in history and science from Harvard and an MFA in fiction and nonfiction from the Rainier Writing Workshop. 

Jen is also a co-founder and former board chair of the cultural democracy institutions, MediaJustice and ReFrame, and is a leader in the field of narrative justice. Originally from a landlocked part of the Chicago area, Jen has spent the past decade living with her family in Seattle, near the Duwamish River and the Salish Sea.

"Our Bodies, Ourselves" was one of the first books that showed me that personal health is a political issue. OBOS Today continues the tradition, now providing accurate information about mental health as well as reproductive and comprehensive health for women, femmes, and nonbinary people, and I'm honored to be a part of this effort, which is more important now than ever.