Karen Tongson is the author of Why Karen Carpenter Matters (a finalist for the 2020 Lambda Literary Award in LGBTQ Nonfiction), and Relocations: Queer Suburban Imaginaries (2011). In 2019, she received Lambda Literary’s Jeanne Córdova Award for Lesbian/Queer Nonfiction for her body of work to date. She is chair of gender & sexuality studies, and Professor of gender & sexuality studies, English and American studies & ethnicity at USC. She is also co-editor of the award-winning book series, Postmillennial Pop with Henry Jenkins at NYU Press. Her writing and cultural commentary have appeared in NPR, LARB (Los Angeles Review of Books), The Los Angeles Times, The AV Club, Entertainment Weekly, L.A. Weekly, BuzzFeed Reader, The Washington Post, Süddeutsche Zeitung and Public Books, among other public and scholarly venues. Tongson has two books in progress: NORMPORN: Television and the Spectacle of Normalcy (NYU Press), and Empty Orchestra: Karaoke, Queer Aesthetics, Queer Theory (Duke University Press). She co-hosts and executive produces the podcast Waiting to X-Hale with Wynter Mitchell-Rohrbaugh.