Jessa Crispin (born in

Lincoln, Kansas Lincoln Center, more commonly known as Lincoln, is a city in and the county seat of Lincoln County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 1,171. History Settler George Green founded the town of Lincol ...

) is a critic, author, feminist, and the editor-in-chief of ''Bookslut'', a litblog and webzine founded in 2002. She has published four books, most recently ''My Three Dads'' (2022).

Early life

Crispin is from

; she has described both her hometown and upbringing in her family as very conservative. She attended

Baker University Baker University is a private university in Baldwin City, Kansas, United States. Founded in 1858, it was the first four-year university in Kansas and is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Baker University is made up of four schools. Th ...

in Kansas for two years before leaving without a degree.

Literary career

Crispin began her literary career as publishing outsider who started her blog ''Bookslut'' on the side while working at

Planned Parenthood The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (PPFA), or simply Planned Parenthood, is an American nonprofit organization

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

. She eventually came to support herself by writing and editing the site full-time. ''Bookslut'' ran for 14 years, with the last issue announced in May 2016. ''Bookslut'' received mentions in many national and international newspapers, including ''

The New York Times Book Review ''The New York Times Book Review'' (''NYTBR'') is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times'' in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely rea ...

'' and ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

''. In 2005, Crispin kept a diary about her work on books for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''. Crispin had a regular column in the online cultural journal ''The Smart Set'', published by

Drexel University Drexel University is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony Joseph Drexel, Anthony J. Drexel, a financier ...

. She was a book critic for NPR and contributor to

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

's ''

Need to Know The term "need to know" (alternatively spelled need-to-know), when used by governments and other organizations (particularly those related to military or intelligence), describes the restriction of data which is considered very confidential and ...

''. She has written for the ''New York Times'', the ''Washington Post'', ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily nonprofit newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has long held the second largest circulation among Chicago newspaper ...

'' and ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

,'' among other publications. She wrote the afterword to Melville House Books' reissue of

Heinrich Böll Heinrich Theodor Böll (; ; 21 December 1917 – 16 July 1985) was a German writer. Considered one of Germany's foremost post-World War II writers, Böll received the Georg Büchner Prize (1967) and the Nobel Prize for Literature (1972). Bio ...

's '' Billiards at Half-Past Nine''.

Personal life

In 2018, Crispin married Nicolás Rodríguez Melo, partly in order to sponsor his visa, and interviewed him for her Public Intellectual podcast about the performance of masculinity and femininity. She has criticized married women in the past: "Marriage’s history is about treating women as property, and by being married you’re legitimising that history."

Works

*''The Dead Ladies Project: Exiles, Expats, and Ex-Countries'' (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2015, ) *''The Creative Tarot: A Modern Guide to an Inspired Life'' (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2016, ) *''Why I Am Not a Feminist: A Feminist Manifesto'' (New York: Melville House, 2017, ) *''My Three Dads: Patriarchy on the Great Plains'' (University of Chicago Press, 2022, ) *''What is Wrong with Men: Patriarchy, the Crisis of Masculinity, and How (of Course) Michael Douglas Films Explain Everything'' (Pantheon, 2025, )

References

External links

Bookslut Official site
(archived)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crispin, Jessa Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 1970s births American women bloggers American bloggers American feminist writers American literary critics American women literary critics People from Lincoln Center, Kansas 21st-century American women writers American women non-fiction writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers Baker University alumni Writers from Kansas