Piper Kerman

About the Author

Piper Kerman is an American writer and advocate whose unflinching memoir, Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison, catapulted her into the national spotlight, inspiring the acclaimed Netflix series of the same name. Drawing from her own experience of serving a 13-month sentence in a federal correctional facility for a decade-old drug-related offense, Kerman offers a raw, eye-opening account of life behind bars, highlighting issues of justice, race, and resilience in the American prison system. A former nonprofit consultant, she now dedicates her efforts to criminal justice reform, serving on boards for organizations like the Women's Prison Association and speaking widely on prison abolition and restorative justice. Through her writing, Kerman bridges personal narrative with broader social commentary, challenging readers to confront the human stories often overlooked in the criminal justice debate.