Samantha McKiver Irby (born February 13, 1980) is an American comedian, essayist, blogger, and television writer. She is the creator and author of the blog ''bitches gotta eat'', where she writes humorous observations about her own life and modern society more broadly. Her books ''We Are Never Meeting in Real Life'' and ''Wow, No Thank You.'' were both ''New York Times'' best-sellers. She is a recipient of the 2021

Lambda Literary Award Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary Foundation, Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ+ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ+ literatur ...

for bisexual nonfiction. She has been a writer and/or co-producer for TV shows including HBO's reboot of ''

Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy, romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO, based on Sex and the City (newspaper column), the newspaper column and 1996 book by Candace Bushnell. It premiered in th ...

'', ''

Work in Progress Work in process or work-in-process, (WIP), work in progress (WIP), goods in process, or in-process inventory refers to a company's partially finished goods waiting for completion and eventual sale, or the value of these items. The term is used in ...

'', '' Shrill'', and '' Tuca & Bertie''. In 2016, FX announced that it had purchased the television rights to Irby's 2013 memoir ''Meaty'' and her blog, with the intent to adapt them into a series.

Early life

Samantha McKiver Irby's middle name is her maternal grandmother's maiden name. She was born on February 13, 1980, and grew up in

Evanston, Illinois Evanston is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States, situated on the North Shore (Chicago), North Shore along Lake Michigan. A suburb of Chicago, Evanston is north of Chicago Loop, downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skok ...

. She attended

Evanston Township High School Evanston Township High School (ETHS) (District 202) is a public high school in Evanston, Illinois. The campus is located in a northern suburb of Chicago along the Lake Michigan shore. ETHS was established in 1883 and serves the city of Evanston a ...

. Her mother was a nurse. In several interviews and books, Irby has discussed caring for her mother, who had

multiple sclerosis Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease resulting in damage to myelinthe insulating covers of nerve cellsin the brain and spinal cord. As a demyelinating disease, MS disrupts the nervous system's ability to Action potential, transmit ...

, as a teenager. Irby attended

Northern Illinois University Northern Illinois University (NIU) is a public research university in DeKalb, Illinois, United States. It was founded as "Northern Illinois State Normal School" in 1895 by Illinois Governor John P. Altgeld, initially to provide the state with c ...

, but dropped out after her mother's death. Her father was in and out of her life. His death—from hypothermia after suffering multiple heart attacks and strokes—happened six months before her mother's death. Irby began writing in the late 2000s when she started a

Myspace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

blog.

Work

In her blog ''bitches gotta eat'', Irby offers an unvarnished and humorous accounting of challenges she has faced in her personal life and discusses various topics, including her sex life and battles with

Crohn's disease Crohn's disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that may affect any segment of the gastrointestinal tract. Symptoms often include abdominal pain, diarrhea, fever, abdominal distension, and weight loss. Complications outside of the ...

. She began the blog in 2009. Irby also co-hosted the live lit show ''Guts and Glory'' in Chicago with Keith Ecker until 2015, when the show ended its run. She has co-hosted ''The Sunday Night Sex Show'', performed in several shows, including The Paper Machete and Story Club, and her work has appeared in ''

The Rumpus ''The Rumpus'' is an online literary magazine founded by Stephen Elliott (author), Stephen Elliott, and launched on January 20, 2009. The site features interviews, book reviews, essays, comics, and critiques of creative culture as well as origi ...

'', ''In Our Words'', and ''

Jezebel Jezebel ()"Jezebel"
(US) and

''. Irby has published five books: ''We Are Never Meeting in Real Life''; ''Meaty''; ''New Year, Same Trash''; ''Wow, No Thank You;'' and ''Quietly Hostile.'' ''Meaty'' was published by Curbside Splendor Publishing in 2013, then republished in 2018 by

Vintage Books Vintage Books is a trade paperback publishing imprint of Penguin Random House originally established by Alfred A. Knopf in 1954. The company was acquired by Random House in April 1960, and a British division was set up in 1990. After Random Ho ...

. It is in development for adaptation as a television show on FX called ''Guts and Glory'', with comedian Abbi Jacobson and writer

Jessi Klein Jessi Ruth Klein (born August 18, 1975) is an American writer, actress and stand-up comedian from New York City. Klein has regularly appeared on shows such as '' The Showbiz Show with David Spade'' and VH1's '' Best Week Ever'' and has performed ...

. In 2017, Irby's second book, ''We Are Never Meeting in Real Life'', was published by Vintage Books. It made ''The New York Times'' best-seller list for paperback nonfiction. The fourth collection of essays, ''Wow, No Thank You'', was released in March 2020. Irby stated on her social media pages that her book tour would be online due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

. The book debuted in the New York Times best-seller list's number one spot for Paperback Nonfiction. In 2018, Irby wrote the fourth episode, "Pool", of the first season of '' Shrill''. It was released on March 15, 2019. In February 2021, Irby was announced as a co-producer and writer on '' And Just Like That...'', the HBO reboot of ''

.'' She was the lead writer of Season 1 Episode 5, "Tragically Hip." Her essay collection ''Wow, No Thank You.'' won the

for Bisexual Non-Fiction at the 33rd Lambda Literary Awards in 2021. In July 2021, Irby wrote an episode for the second season of '' Tuca & Bertie,'' "Vibe Check".

Personal life

Irby married in 2016. Her wife is Kirsten Jennings. She now lives and works in

Kalamazoo, Michigan Kalamazoo ( ) is a city in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Kalamazoo had a population of 73,598. It is the principal city of the Kalamazoo–Portage metropolitan are ...

. Irby has been open about her struggles with

, degenerative arthritis, and depression, often discussing her experiences in her writing. She is friends with writers

Roxane Gay Roxane Gay (born October 15, 1974) is an American writer, professor, editor, and social commentator. Gay is the author of ''The New York Times'' best-selling essay collection ''Bad Feminist'' (2014), as well as the short story collection ''Ayiti ...

and Lindy West.

Publications

* ''Meaty'' (2013, Curbside Splendor Publishing: : 2018, Vintage) * ''New Year, Same Trash: Resolutions I Absolutely Did Not Keep'' (2017,

Vintage In winemaking, vintage is the process of picking grapes to create wine. A vintage wine is one made from grapes that were all, or primarily, grown and harvested in a single specified year. In certain wines, it can denote quality, as in Port wine ...

, e-book: ) * ''We Are Never Meeting in Real Life'' (2017, Vintage: ) * "Country Crock" in ''Nasty Women: Feminism, Resistance, and Revolution in Trump's America'' (eds.

Samhita Mukhopadhyay Samhita Mukhopadhyay (born May 3, 1978) is an American writer and former executive editor of ''Teen Vogue''. She writes about feminism, culture, race, politics, and dating. She is the author of ''Outdated: Why Dating is Ruining Your Love Life'' an ...

and Kate Harding, 2017,

Picador A ''picador'' (; pl. ''picadores'') is one of the pair of horse-mounted bullfighters in a Spanish-style bullfight that jab the bull with a lance. They perform in the ''tercio de varas'', which is the first of the three stages in a stylized bull ...

: ) * ''Wow, No Thank You.: Essays'', (March 2020, Vintage, ) * ''Quietly Hostile'' (May 2023,

Penguin Random House Penguin Random House Limited is a British-American multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, with the merger of Penguin Books and Random House. Penguin Books was or ...

, )

References

Citations

Works cited

External links

*
Abbi Jacobson and Sam Irby
on '' A Piece of Work'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Irby, Samantha Living people 1980 births 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women 21st-century African-American women writers 21st-century African-American writers 21st-century American comedians 21st-century American women writers African-American LGBTQ people African-American female comedians African-American comedians American LGBTQ writers American bloggers American women bloggers American women comedians Bisexual comedians Comedians from Chicago Evanston Township High School alumni LGBTQ people from Illinois LGBTQ people from Michigan Lambda Literary Award winners The New Yorker people People with Crohn's disease Writers from Chicago