Piper Kerman

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Piper Kerman
Piper Kerman University of Missouri book signing (cropped).jpg
Kerman at the University of Missouri in 2014
Born Piper Eressea Kerman
(1969-09-28) September 28, 1969 (age 54)
Boston, Massachusetts[1]
Alma mater Smith College
Occupation Writer, author, memoirist
Notable work Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison
Spouse(s) Larry Smith (m. 2006)
Website piperkerman.com

Piper Eressea Kerman[2] (born September 28, 1969) is an American memoirist convicted of felony money-laundering charges; her experiences in prison provided the basis for the comedy-drama Netflix series Orange Is the New Black.

Early life and education

Kerman was born in Boston[1] into a family with many attorneys, doctors, and educators,.[1] She graduated from Swampscott High School in Swampscott, Massachusetts in 1987,[3] and Smith College[4] in 1992. She is a self-described WASP (although her paternal grandfather was Russian Jewish).[4][5]

Criminal career

In 1993, Kerman entered into a romantic relationship with a woman who dealt heroin for a West African kingpin.[6][7] Kerman laundered money for the drug operation.[6]

In 1998, Kerman was indicted for money laundering and drug trafficking, and subsequently pleaded guilty.[6] Beginning in 2004, she served 13 months of a 15-month sentence at FCI Danbury, a minimum security prison located in Danbury, Connecticut.[8]

Later career

Kerman published her best-selling memoir about her experiences in prison, Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison, in 2010. A television adaptation of the same name by Jenji Kohan, the Emmy award-winning creator of Weeds, debuted in July 2013 on Netflix. Kerman's character in the series ("Piper Chapman") is played by Taylor Schilling. The program was renewed for a fourth season before season three premiered.[9]

Kerman serves on the board of the Women's Prison Association and is frequently invited to speak to students of creative writing, criminology, gender and women's studies, law, and sociology, as well as to groups, such as the American Correctional Association's Disproportionate Minority Confinement Task Force, federal probation officers, public defenders, justice reform advocates and volunteers, book clubs, and formerly and currently incarcerated people.[citation needed]

On February 10, 2014, Kerman received the 2014 Justice Trailblazer Award from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice Center on Media, Crime & Justice.[10]

On February 25, 2014, Kerman testified at a hearing on "Reassessing Solitary Confinement" before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Human Rights chaired by Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin.[11]

On August 4, 2015, Kerman testified at a hearing on "Oversight of the Bureau of Prisons: First-Hand Accounts of Challenges Facing the Federal Prison System" before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee chaired by Senator Ron Johnson.[12]

Since 2015, Kerman has worked as a communications strategist for nonprofits.[13]

Personal life

Kerman has stated, "I’m bisexual, so I’m a part of the gay community".[14] She says she came out of the closet at "either 18 or 19" and identified as a lesbian for most of her youth. Kerman says she had relationships with many women, and her husband Larry Smith, a writer,[2] and creator of the popular concept of Six-Word Memoirs,[15] is "the only guy I’ve ever dated."[16] Kerman and Smith married on May 21, 2006.[2]

In a May 2015 interview with the Columbus Dispatch,[17] Kerman confirmed that she and Smith are living in Columbus, Ohio and that she is teaching writing classes at the Marion Correctional Institution and the Ohio Reformatory for Women in nearby Marysville, Ohio.[18]

Works

Interviews

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  • AMA, on Reddit
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References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ https://twitter.com/Piper/status/322346590687858690
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ http://www.lstylegstyle.com/stories/the-real-piper-of-orange-is-the-new-black/
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/06/02/piper-kerman-speech.html
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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