emily jordan
edgy YA in the big city
Emily Jordan is a diehard New Yorker who still doesn’t have a driver’s license. Born in New Orleans and raised in Brooklyn, she survived a life as a high school Latin teacher, a gossip columnist and a standup yogi. Emily received her MFA in Creative Writing from Hunter College. She has been awarded residencies by Yaddo, Blue Mountain Center and the Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts.
A lifelong LGBTQ and social justice advocate, Emily married the girl genius of her dreams in May 2016. They are passionate sneakerheads who are always on the lookout for retro concerts and dope kicks. A mass-media devotee, Emily is the unofficial poison taster for Netflix—watching every television show in existence to make sure no one will die. She can sing any TV theme song from the seventies and eighties and is allergic to clogs.
Emily is on the board of Lineage Project, an organization that teaches mindfulness practices to incarcerated, homeless and vulnerable youth. Though new to YA, Emily has been writing since the nineteen hundred and eighties, everything from indie film to sassy non-fiction. She now writes regularly about pop culture for Salon.
Interested in my take on pop culture through the lens of popular romance and young adult fiction? Check out my columns for Salon.com which feature a diverse line of of line up of luminaries and opinionistas Julie Klausner, Beverly Jenkins, Chris Kraus, S.K. Ali, DeWANDA Wise, April Reign, Justina Ireland, Lauren Oliver, Ry Russo-Young, Angie Thomas, Shakina Nayfack, Misha Green, T Cooper, Allison Glock-Cooper, Corrine Fisher, Krystyna Hutchinson, Eloisa James, Sarah Maclean, Meredith Russo, Gigi Gorgeous, and Damon Suede.
Books are busting out all over! My first lesbian YA romance, JUST THE SKY, is currently on the verge.
Prep-school princess Skylar Baldwin-Cohen (16) grew up in a loving, upper-middle-class, African American household with the best schools, the best clothes, the best friends, but junior year’s a total snoozefest. That is, till she gets an internship teaching yoga at Vistas Juvenile Detention Center in the Bronx and shit gets real, fast.
Domenica Merillo (15) has gotten herself in mad trouble. Raised by a white, drug-addicted mom, she’s been arrested for a lethal house fire she didn’t start and sent to Vistas to await sentencing for arson. By the time Skylar shows up, Domenica’s already on a downward spiral, but if she’s going to save herself, she’ll have to come clean, take down her former crew, and finally allow herself to start living for all the right reasons.
If they’re willing to sacrifice the lies they’ve lived and open their eyes, these two girls might discover a future worth loving.
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Other projects include: a time-travel YA romance set in a mental hospital and a behind-the-scenes about a fashion intern who accidentally designs a major collection.
If you’re interested in my previous incarnation as non-fiction writer Emily Stone, check out Did Jew Know? — a fast, funny tour of all things Jewish from culture to kitsch. A perfect gift for the spiritually curious or your Uncle Murray’s housewarming.
Emily Jordan
@EmilyBeJordan
NYC
EmilyBeJordan@gmail.com
