Jillian Medoff is the acclaimed author of five novels. Her most recent, WHEN WE WERE BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL (HarperCollins, 2022), was longlisted for the Brooklyn Public Library Book Prize, a Book of the Month Club feature selection, an Apple Books Best of the Month, an Audible Editor’s Pick, a PEOPLE Pick of the Week, and a favorite of Town and Country Magazine, Oprah Daily, and others.
Featuring “uncannily insightful takes on the dark side of family institutions” (Entertainment Weekly), Jillian’s novels include THIS COULD HURT (Indiebound bestseller), I COULDN’T LOVE YOU MORE (national bestseller), and GOOD GIRLS GONE BAD (big flop). Her debut novel, HUNGER POINT, was made into an original Lifetime movie starring Christina Hendricks and Barbara Hershey, directed by Joan Micklin Silver.
A former fellow at MacDowell, Blue Mountain Center, VCCA and Fundacion Valparaiso in Spain, Jillian has an MFA from NYU and a BA from Barnard College. She studied with Mona Simpson and Jonathan Dee; and took master classes with Toni Morrison, Grace Paley, and Joyce Carol Oates. Jillian’s MFA experience was life-changing. She sold her graduate thesis to HarperCollins where it was retitled HUNGER POINT and published in 1997. Back then, readers loved the deeply depressed Frannie; now, they hate her and her whole stupid, self-absorbed family. Times change, culture evolves, and still, trauma endures.
In addition to writing novels, Jillian has a long career in corporate consulting. Over the years, she’s worked for a wide range of employers, including Deloitte and Aon. Now a vice president and senior consultant with Segal Benz, she advises clients on communication strategies for all aspects of the employee experience.
Jillian’s new novel, THE LIFE-OR-DEATH COMMITTEE, will be published in 2027 (Harper/HarperCollins). A story about medical ethics and race relations, the book is based on a real life-or-death committee at the University of Washington, circa 1961.