Feisty Female Friday: Jodi Picoult

This week’s FFF is Jodi Picoult.

Jodi was born in NY and started writing stories at the age of five. By her teenage years, Seventeen magazine published two of her short stories. She studied creative writing and became the first woman to serve as coxswain of a men's crew team when in college. After graduation, she worked odd jobs first, editing textbooks, taught eighth-grade English, and earned a master's degree in education.
She kept on writing fiction with her first novel coming out, barely making a ripple. But her novel, My Sister's Keeper, turned her into a household name, eventually inspiring a Movie. Next came a novel, Nineteen Minutes, became the first of her novels to debut at number one on the NY Times bestseller list. DC Comics also had her write about for one of their most iconic characters, Wonder Woman. Jodi kept writing, refusing to look away from the subjects most writers avoid: assisted suicide, racism, the death penalty, abortion, and LGBT rights. She put ordinary families in her stories in impossible situations and asked her readers to be there with the families who dealt with these life changing events.

She has published more than two dozen novels, with nearly 40 million copies of her books are in print, and have been translated into 34 languages. Nineteen Minutes, A Spark of Light, Mad Honey, The Storyteller, Small Great Things, Wish You Were Here, My Sister’s Keeper, Leaving Time, and The Pact are among her best-selling books.
A FL school district recently reviewed books for removal under a new state law, with twenty of them being hers. Jodi didn't stay quiet and went on national news to call out the decision and became one of the most visible voices in the country speaking out against school library censorship, showing up at board meetings, and book tour events built specifically around the issue.

Through her writing, she aims to shed light on diverse human experiences, cultural norms, and asks us all to reflect on their values and beliefs with her thought-provoking novels that often explore complex social issues important to everyone.
She is also an advocate for women’s reproductive, LGBTQ+, and literacy rights, supports the Trumbull Hall Troupe, CHAD, Positive Tracks, the National Writing Project, PEN America, and remains an outspoken critic of censorship.

Jodi lives in NH, is married, a mom, and writes her novels from the attic of her country home.