About the author

Since kicking off her writing life as a columnist and editor at punk and alternative ‘zines like Maximum Rock n Roll, Lily Burana has written for over fifty publications including The Washington Post, GQ, The Atlantic, The New York Times, New York Magazine, Self, Glamour, The Advocate, Out, Marie Claire, Entertainment Weekly, Slate, Salon, and The New York Observer, and her reviews and cultural criticism have been picked up by magazines and newspapers around the world. She has been a Contributing Editor at SPIN and New York magazines. Her essays have been included in numerous anthologies. While still in her early 20s, Lily was co-editor of the groundbreaking gender studies anthology, DAGGER: On Butch Women (Cleis Press), a San Francisco LGBTQ bestseller.

Lily is the author of four books. Her first book, STRIP CITY: A Stripper’s Farewell Journey Across America (Miramax Books) made several Best Book of the Year lists, including Entertainment Weekly, Salon, and New York Newsday, and was selected as a Barnes and Noble Discover New Writers title. Strip City was also named in the Top Six “EW Picks” in Entertainment Weekly’s “So You Want to Write a Memoir” roundup, which featured a thousand recent memoirs. Her novel, TRY (St. Martins Press), an Outlaw Country romance, was lauded by Kirkus Reviews as “a touching winter-spring romance set amid full Western regalia.” Her third book, I LOVE A MAN IN UNIFORM: A Memoir of Love, War, and Other Battles (Weinstein Books) was hailed as “a notable historical document” by the New York Times Book Review. Her latest book, GRACE FOR AMATEURS: Field Notes on a Journey Back to Faith (W Books/Harper) has garnered rave endorsements from a diverse range of writers and religious thought leaders, including #1 New York Times bestselling author Glennon Doyle, feminist director and auteur Joey Soloway, and pastor Carol Howard Merritt.

Lily has attended the Sirenland Writers Conference in Positano, Italy, and was the recipient of a writer’s residency at Ucross Foundation in Ucross, Wyoming, where she wrote much of her novel. She is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Social Justice at Union Theological Seminary in New York City.

As a speaker, Lily has appeared at the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts, The United States Military Academy, San Francisco Art Institute, The Tennessee Williams Literary Festival, OutWrite, The American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA) Conference, and she is a repeat presenter at the Columbia School of Journalism.