Jen Silverman is an American playwright, TV writer, and novelist.

Silverman grew up living and traveling in Scandinavia, Asia, and Europe as well as the United States.^[1] She completed a BA in comparative literature at Brown University^[2][3] and an MFA in playwriting at the University of Iowa.^[2]They are the author of the book The Island Dwellers, an interlinked story collection published by Random House.

Background

They have taught theatre and playwriting classes at the University of Iowa, Playwrights Horizons Theater School at New York University, and ESPA (at Primary Stages). Silverman completed residencies at MacDowell Colony (two-time fellow), New Harmony, Hedgebrook, the Millay Colony for the Arts, and SPACE on Ryder Farm.^[2] Silverman also writes for TV; they wrote for Netflix's Tales of the City (2019 miniseries).

Works

Plays

• Spain
• Collective Rage: A Play In 5 Betties; In Essence, A Queer And Occasionally Hazardous Exploration; Do You Remember When You Were In Middle School And You Read About Shackleton And How He Explored The Antarctic?; Imagine The Antarctic As A Pussy And It’s Sort Of Like That ^[4][2][5]
• The Moors^[6][7][8]
• Phoebe In Winter^[6]
• Pirates of the Cafeteria^[9]
• The Roommate^[8][10]
• Still
• Wink^[11]
• Witch^[12]

Other works

• The Island Dwellers: Stories (2018)
• We Play Ourselves: A Novel (2021)

Awards

Silverman has received the Yale Drama Series Award,^[3] Lilly Award,^[13] Kennedy Center's Paula Vogel Playwriting Award,^[13] MacDowell Fellow,^[13] the Helen Merrill Fund Award in 2015,^[3][5] and the PoNY Fellowship (2016-2017).^[6]