Karen Tongson is the author of Why Karen Carpenter Matters, and Relocations: Queer Suburban Imaginaries. In 2019, she received Lambda Literary’s Jeanne Córdova Award for Lesbian/Queer Nonfiction for her body of work to date. She is currently finishing a book called NORMPORN: Television and the Spectacle of Normalcy and co-edits the award-winning book series, Postmillennial Pop, with Henry Jenkins at NYU Press. Her writing and cultural commentary have appeared in NPR, LARB, The Los Angeles Times, The AV Club, Entertainment Weekly, BuzzFeed Reader, The Washington Post, Süddeutsche Zeitung and Public Books, among other public and scholarly venues. She co-hosts and executive produces the podcast Waiting to X-Hale with Wynter Mitchell-Rohrbaugh and is currently chair of gender & sexuality studies, and Professor of gender & sexuality studies, English and American studies & ethnicity at USC.