Raf Frumkin has lived many lives: freelance journalist, creative writing professor, femme queer woman, Bird Cage-y trans man. 

In this most recent life, she writes novels, essays and screenplays on topics as wide-ranging as philosophy and creativity, gender metaphysics, second-and third-wave feminism, cults, grifts, the American Dream, and the surprising commonalities between the capitalist prosperity gospel and leftist individualism. She would describe herself as a testoform butch lesbian, which is theory-speak for gender-nonconforming woman who fled the medical-industrial complex. In other words, she’s escaped the lab for good, and nine out of ten experts agree: her prognosis has never been better!

She has published two novels – The Comedown (Henry Holt, 2018), Confidence (Simon and Schuster, 2023) – and a short story collection, Bugsy (Simon and Schuster, 2024). Confidence was named a New York Times Editor’s Pick and one of the Washington Post’s 50 Notable Works of Fiction. The Comedown was acquired for TV development by Freddie Highmore and Regina King, and then by SONY Trident.

Raf spent five years as a professor of creative writing at Southern Illinois University, where she had the good fortune to work with some of the brightest, curious and most passionate students she’d ever encountered in her teaching career. She loves teaching, especially on the topics of creative writing and philosophy, and continues to do so even parting ways with the professoriate to write full-time.