View source for Jillian Lauren

{{Short description|American writer, performer and former escort}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2019}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Jillian Lauren
| image = Jillian lauren 2011.jpg
| imagesize = 225px
| caption = Jillian Lauren at the 2011 [[Texas Book Festival]]
| pseudonym =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1973|8|16}}
| birth_place = [[Livingston, New Jersey]]
| nationality = American
| education =
| alma_mater =
| occupation = Novelist
| period = 2001–present
| genre = [[tragicomedy]], [[fiction]], [[memoir]]
| subject =
| movement =
| notableworks = ''[[Everything You Ever Wanted (novel)|Everything You Ever Wanted]]'', ''[[Some Girls: My Life in a Harem]]'' and ''[[Pretty (novel)|Pretty]]''
| influences =
| spouse = [[Scott Shriner]] (m. 2005–present)
| partner =
| children = 2
| relatives =
| religion =
| website = {{URL|http://jillianlauren.com}}
}}
'''Jillian Lauren''' (born August 16, 1973) is an American writer, performer, adoption advocate, and former [[call girl]] for [[Jefri Bolkiah, Prince of Brunei]]; about whom she wrote her first memoir, ''[[Some Girls: My Life in a Harem]]''.<ref name="Some Girls">{{cite web |title=Some Girls |url=http://www.jillianlauren.com/some-girls/ |website=JIllian Lauren |access-date=February 9, 2019 |archive-date=October 3, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003153140/http://www.jillianlauren.com/some-girls/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==Writing==
Jillian Lauren is the author of the New York Times bestselling<ref name=BestSeller>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/23/books/bestseller/bestpapernonfiction.html |title=The New York Times Bestseller List |work=The New York Times |location=New York |date=May 23, 2010}}</ref> [[memoir]] books ''Everything You Ever Wanted'', released May 2015,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lauren |first1=Jillian |title=Everything You Ever Wanted: A Memoir |date=2015 |publisher=Penguin |isbn=9780142181638}}</ref> ''Some Girls: My Life in a Harem'', released in 2010,<ref name="Some Girls" /> and the 2011 novel ''[[Pretty (novel)|Pretty]]'', all published by [[Penguin Group|Plume/Penguin]]. ''Some Girls'', which chronicles her time spent in the harem of the Prince of Brunei, has been translated into eighteen languages.
Lauren's USA Today bestselling true crime book ''Behold the Monster: Facing America’s Most Prolific Serial Killer'' was published by Sourcebooks in 2023.<ref>{{cite book | title=Behold the Monster: Confronting America's Most Prolific Serial Killer and Uncovering the Women Society Forgot. (Book, 2020)| via=WorldCat.org | oclc=1246302702 | url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1246302702 | access-date=July 21, 2022}}</ref> The book is based on the author's extensive interviews with serial killer [[Samuel Little]]. Her work attempting to seek justice for Little's victims and match cold cases to him is chronicled in the 2021 five-part documentary series, ''[[Confronting a Serial Killer]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Tallerico|first=Brian|date=April 14, 2021|title=Confronting a Serial Killer movie review (2021) {{!}} Roger Ebert|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/confronting-a-serial-killer-tv-review-2021|access-date=April 24, 2021|website=RogerEbert.com|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Turchiano|first=Danielle|date=April 16, 2021|title='Confronting a Serial Killer' Director Aims to Expose 'Dark Forces' With True Crime Stories|url=https://variety.com/2021/tv/features/joe-berlinger-confronting-a-serial-killer-samuel-little-1234946336/|access-date=April 24, 2021|website=Variety|language=en-US}}</ref>
Lauren has a [[Master of Fine Arts|MFA]] in creative writing from [[Antioch University]]. Her writing has appeared in ''[[New York (magazine)|New York Magazine]]'', ''[[The Paris Review]]'', ''[[The New York Times]]'', ''[[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'', ''[[Los Angeles Magazine]]'', ''[[Elle (magazine)|Elle]]'', ''Flaunt Magazine'', ''[[The Rumpus]]'', and ''[[Salon (website)|Salon]]'', among others. Her work has also been widely anthologized, including ''[[The Moth Anthology]]'' and ''[[True Tales of Lust and Love]]''.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}
Lauren is a regular storyteller with ''[[The Moth]]'' and has performed at numerous spoken word and storytelling events across the United States. She did a [[TEDx Talk]] about [[adoption]] and identity at [[Chapman University]] in 2014. She has been interviewed on such television programs as ''[[The View (U.S. TV series)|The View]]'', ''[[Good Morning America]]'', and ''[[The Howard Stern Show]]'', among others.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}
Lauren has blogged at MSNBC Today Moms and ''[[The Huffington Post]]''.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}
==Personal life==
Lauren grew up in [[Livingston, New Jersey]], and graduated in 1991 from [[Newark Academy]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.classmates.com/people/Jillian-Lauren/8733525736 |title=Jillian Lauren|newspaper=Classmates.com }}</ref> She later moved to New York City, where she briefly studied acting at [[New York University]].<ref name=NYPost>{{cite news |author=Susannah Cahalan |author-link=Susannah Cahalan |url=http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/my_nights_at_the_harem_p8PbltXYPm7DnA5l7TDAoI |title=My nights at the harem |newspaper=New York Post |date=December 27, 2009}}</ref>
Lauren is married to musician [[Scott Shriner]] of the band [[Weezer]]. They live in Los Angeles with two adopted sons, their first, a boy from [[Ethiopia]] who was adopted on January 23, 2009.<ref name="Bio">{{cite web |url=http://us.penguingroup.com/nf/Author/AuthorPage/0,,1000075336,00.html |title=About Jillian Lauren |work=Penguin |year=2011 |access-date=February 1, 2011}}</ref>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
{{commonscat|Jillian Lauren}}
* [http://jillianlauren.com Official site]
* [http://wtfpod.libsyn.com/episode-234-jillian-lauren WTF with Marc Maron Podcast – Episode 234 – Jillian Lauren]
{{Prostitution in the United States|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lauren, Jillian}}
[[Category:American women writers]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:1973 births]]
[[Category:American prostitutes]]
[[Category:21st-century American women]]
[[Category:Adoption activists]]