Jill Nelson was born and raised in Harlem and has been a working journalist for over twenty years. She is a graduate of the City College of New York and Columbia University’s School of Journalism. Her work has appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times, Essence, The Washington Post, The Nation, Ms., The Chicago Tribune and the Village Voice. Jill was a staff writer for the Washington Post Magazine during its first years of existence, and was named Washington D.C. Journalist of the Year for her work there. Author of the best-selling memoir, Volunteer Slavery: My Authentic Negro Experience (Noble Press, hardcover, 1993 and Penguin, paperback, 1994) which won an American Book Award, she is also the author of Straight, No Chaser: How I Became A Grown-Up Black Woman (Putnam, Fall 1997, Penguin, Winter 1999) Sexual Healing , (Agate, June 2003), Finding Martha’s Vineyard: African Americans at Home on an Island , (Random House, May 2005) and editor of Police Brutality: An Anthology (WW Norton, April 2000). In addition to writing, Jill worked as a professor of Journalism at the City College of New York from 1998 to 2003. Today, along with continuing to author new books, she freelances, lectures widely, writes a twice-monthly column, “On the Verge,” for NiaOnline.com and is a monthly contributor to the Op Ed page of USA Today.
Author of the best-selling memoir, Volunteer Slavery: My Authentic Negro Experience (Noble Press, hardcover, 1993 and Penguin, paperback, 1994) which won an American Book Award, she is also the author of Straight, No Chaser: How I Became A Grown-Up Black Woman (Putnam, Fall 1997, Penguin, Winter 1999) Sexual Healing , (Agate, June 2003), Finding Martha’s Vineyard: African Americans at Home on an Island , (Random House, May 2005) and editor of Police Brutality: An Anthology (WW Norton, April 2000). In addition to writing, Jill worked as a professor of Journalism at the City College of New York from 1998 to 2003. Today, along with continuing to author new books, she freelances, lectures widely, writes a twice-monthly column, “On the Verge,” for NiaOnline.com and is a monthly contributor to the Op Ed page of USA Today.