Melissa Febos has become a leading force in contemporary essay writing by “investigating universal tensions while straddling academic, theoretical discussions and more personal, confessional writing,” according to Zeke Jarvis of the Kenyon Review. The best-selling GIRLHOOD (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021), winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award in criticism, is Febos’ most notable publication to date, and has been translated into ten languages. Her craft book, BODY WORK (Catapult, 2022), was a national and LA Times bestseller. Her newest publication is a memoir, The Dry Season (Alfred. A. Knopf, 2025).
Febos has received various awards and fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the British Library, and more. She is a regular feature in publications such as The Paris Review, The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, The Guardian, Elle, and Vogue.
She is currently the Roy J. Carver Professor at the University of Iowa, where she teaches in the Nonfiction Writing Program. She lives in Iowa City with her wife, fellow guest poet Donika Kelly.
Febos and Kelly’s reading will be followed by conversation with Cai Sherley ’19 in John M. Greene Hall on Tuesday, September 22 at 7 p.m. Free and open to the public. Livestream also available on the BDPC YouTube page.
