Meet Our Scholars

Cris Beam received an MFA in nonfiction writing from Columbia University in 2005, with support from the Point Foundation. Her first book, Transparent: Love, Family and Living the T, was released by Harcourt in 2007 and won a Lambda award and was a Stonewall Honor Book. Her second book entitled I am J, is about a runaway transgender boy in New York, was released in March of 2011. Her most recent book is entitled To The End of June: The Intimate Life of American Foster Care, by Houghton Mifflin-Harcourt. She now teaches creative writing at Columbia University, Bayview Women's Correctional Facility, and New York University, where she was named professor of the year at the Gallatin School. She is currently working on a novel.