Jessica (Jess, J.D.) Nordell is an American writer, science journalist, and author.

Early life and education

Nordell was born in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and raised in

Green Bay, Wisconsin Green Bay is a city in Brown County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the head of Green Bay (Lake Michigan), Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the F ...

. Nordell attended

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

and received a B.A. in physics from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. She later earned a certificate in visual art from the

Minneapolis College of Art and Design The Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) is a private college specializing in the visual arts and located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. MCAD currently enrolls approximately 800 students. MCAD is one of just a few major art schools to offer ...

and an MFA in poetry from the

University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

, where she was the Martha Meier Renk Distinguished Poetry Fellow.

Writing

Her science journalism and writings on bias, prejudice, and discrimination have appeared in the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

, the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

, the Guardian, 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 ...

, the New Republic,

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

, and

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, ...

. Nordell's first boo
The End of Bias: A Beginning (The Science and Practice of Overcoming Unconscious Bias)
was a finalist for the 2021 Royal Society Science Book Prize, the 2022 J. Anthony Lukas Prize for Excellence in Nonfiction, and th
2022 NYPL Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism
It also won a Nautilus Award and was a finalist for the American Society of Journalists and Authors and the National Association of Science Writers Book Award. It was named a best book of the year by Greater Good, Inc., and AARP. Earlier in her career, Nordell was a staff comedy writer from 2003-2005 for

A Prairie Home Companion ''A Prairie Home Companion'' was a weekly radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor that aired live from 1974 to 2016. In 2016, musician Chris Thile took over as host, and the successor show was eventually renamed ''Live from He ...

a live radio variety show hosted by

Garrison Keillor Gary Edward "Garrison" Keillor (; born August 7, 1942) is an American author, singer, humorist, voice actor, and radio personality. He created the Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) show ''A Prairie Home Companion'' (called ''Garrison Keillor's Radio ...

. While on staff, she co-created and produced the interview series Literary Friendships, featuring writer pairs

Michael Chabon Michael Chabon ( ; born May 24, 1963) is an American novelist, screenwriter, columnist, and short story writer. Born in Washington, D.C., he spent a year studying at Carnegie Mellon University before transferring to the University of Pittsburgh, ...

and

Ayelet Waldman Ayelet Waldman (; born December 11, 1964) is an Israeli-American novelist and essayist. She has written seven mystery novels in the series ''The Mommy-Track Mysteries'' and four other novels. She has also written autobiographical essays about mot ...

Sandra Cisneros Sandra Cisneros (born December 20, 1954) is an American writer. She is best known for her first novel, ''The House on Mango Street'' (1984), and her subsequent short story collection, ''Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories'' (1991). Her wo ...

and

Joy Harjo Joy Harjo ( ; born May 9, 1951) is an American poet, musician, playwright, and author. She served as the 23rd United States Poet Laureate from 2019 to 2022, the first Native American to hold that honor. She was also only the second Poet Laureat ...

Michael Cunningham Michael Cunningham (born November 6, 1952) is an American novelist and screenwriter. He is best known for his 1998 novel '' The Hours'', which won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award in 1999. Cunningham is Professor in th ...

and

Marie Howe Marie Howe (born 1950) is an American poet. Howe served as Poets Laureate of New York, New York Poet Laureate from 2012–2016. She is currently a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets and Poet-in-Residence at Cathedral of St. John the Di ...

Robert Bly Robert Elwood Bly (December 23, 1926 – November 21, 2021) was an American poet, essayist, activist and leader of the mythopoetic men's movement. His best-known prose book is '' Iron John: A Book About Men'' (1990), which spent 62 weeks on ...

and

Donald Hall Donald Andrew Hall Jr. (September 20, 1928 – June 23, 2018) was an American poet, writer, editor, and literary critic. He was the author of more than 50 books across several genres from children's literature, biography, memoir, essays, and inc ...

, and

Dana Gioia Michael Dana Gioia (; born December 24, 1950) is an American poet, literary critic, literary translator, and essayist. Since the early 1980s, Gioia has been considered part of the highly controversial and countercultural literary movements w ...

and

Kay Ryan Kay Ryan (born September 21, 1945) is an American poet and educator. She has published seven volumes of poetry and an anthology of selected and new poems. From 2008 to 2010 she was the sixteenth United States Poet Laureate. In 2011 she was named ...

. The series won a 2006

Gracie Award The Gracie Awards are awards presented by the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation (AWM) in the United States, to celebrate and honor programming created for women, by women, and about women, as well as individuals who have made exemplary contr ...

from

American Women in Radio and Television The Alliance for Women in Media (AWM) is a nonprofit organization created by women in 1951 that works to support women in the media in the United States. About The mission of the organization is to "advance the impact of women in broadcasting a ...

. From 2006-2007, Nordell was associate producer for On Being with

Krista Tippett Krista Tippett (née Weedman; born November 9, 1960) is an American journalist, author, and public intellectual. Since 2003, she has served as creator and host of the Peabody Award winning program '' On Being''. In 2014, Tippett was awarded the ...

. Nordell's poems have appeared in FIELD, Best New Poets, Speakeasy, and Radar. Her essay "Another One Rides the Cometbus," an appreciation of

Aaron Cometbus Aaron Elliott (born May 20, 1968), better known as Aaron Cometbus, is an American musician, author, songwriter, roadie, and magazine editor, best known as the creator of the punk zine ''Cometbus''. Career Born in Berkeley, California, Cometbus ...

Cometbus Aaron Elliott (born May 20, 1968), better known as Aaron Cometbus, is an American musician, author, songwriter, roadie, and magazine editor, best known as the creator of the punk zine ''Cometbus''. Career Born in Berkeley, California, Cometbus ...

magazine, appeared in the essay collection ''Before the Mortgage: Real Stories of Brazen Loves, Broken Leases, and the Perplexing Pursuit of Adulthood''.

Publications

;Books ; ;''The End of Bias: A Beginning: How We Eliminate Unconscious Bias and Create a More Just World'' (September 21, 2021) ;Selected Writings on Bias and Discrimination Articles *''This is How Everyday Sexism Could Stop You From Getting That Promotion, New York Times'' (October, 2021) *''Is This How Discrimination Ends?'' ''Atlantic (''April, 2017) *''The Visitor'', The New York Times (November, 2008) *''Positions of Power: How female ambition is shaped'', ''Slate.com'' (November, 2006)

References

External links

A Prairie Home CompanionJessicaNordell.com
* (See

Roxanne Coady R.J. Julia Booksellers is an independent bookstore based in Madison, Connecticut owned and operated by Roxanne J. Coady, a former tax accountant. R.J. Julia has won multiple awards as a top bookstore in the state of Connecticut, and as a top ind ...

.) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nordell, Jessica Living people Harvard University alumni American women poets Poets from Wisconsin American radio producers University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Minneapolis College of Art and Design alumni Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women American women radio producers