Karen Tongson is the author of Normporn: Queer Viewers and the TV That Soothes Us (November 2023), Why Karen Carpenter Matters (one of Pitchfork’s best music books of 2019), and Relocations: Queer Suburban Imaginaries (2011). In 2019, she was awarded Lambda Literary’s Jeanne Córdova Prize for Lesbian/Queer Nonfiction. She directs the Mellon-funded Consortium for Gender, Sexuality, Race and Public Culture at USC, where she is also Chair of gender & sexuality studies, and Professor of gender & sexuality studies, English, and American studies & ethnicity. She is also co-editor of the award-winning book series, Postmillennial Pop with Henry Jenkins at NYU Press, and cohost of the podcasts Waiting to X-Hale with Wynter Mitchell-Rohrbaugh, The Gaymazing Race with Nicole J. Georges, and the limited series Angels International: A 2023 Women’s World Cup Digest with Jennifer Doyle.