FULL BIOGRAPHY

Jack Ori is a transgender author who writes young adult mystery/thrillers and contemporary titles starring trauma survivors and neurodiverse characters. Many of his stories are set in the fictional Long Island suburb of Cedarwood, which is based on the town where he grew up and lives today. Jack was first diagnosed with autism in 2011, a year before he came out as transgender. The themes in his books about becoming who you really are and finding your voice reflect his experience as someone who wasn't able to be himself until well into adulthood.

Prairie Books Review called Jack's debut novel, Reinventing Hannah, "a powerful YA book that deserves to be placed at school and library shelves," while the Booklife Prize noted that "Ori is sensitive to...the power dynamics that inform the ritual of victim shaming, and to how tensions from a traumatic experience can fracture even the sturdiest relationships. " The novel was a semi-finalist in the 2020 Kindle Book Awards.

Jack has both a mystery/thriller and a contemporary young adult title coming out in 2024. Open Secrets features a non-binary college student who faces off against a hostile college administration when their investigation into the murder of a doctoral student unearths a scandal that the university has been turning a blind eye to for a quarter of a century. In the fall of 2024, Ori will also release My Name Is Anna, the story of a young girl who risks everything to stop the use of technology to ban books and other restrictive measures at her high school.

Jack is also a prolific non-fiction writer. He is a Senior Staff Writer for TV Fanatic, where he reviews popular TV shows through the lenses of LGBTQ+ and mental health perspectives. He covers all things Law & Order, two soap operas, and various nighttime dramas, and especially enjoys writing about The Good Doctor from the perspective of an autistic person. He also regularly writes personal essays about his experience as a late-in-life transitioner or his perspective as an autistic transgender man for publications such as Insider.

Jack is a Licensed Master Social Worker and also has a Masters in Mental Health Counseling and a Masters in Professional Writing, all of which he uses to help him craft realistic stories that tackle social issues such as homo/transphobia and criminal justice reform.

Jack can be found on Facebook @CoachandAuthorJackOri and @authorjackori on X and Instragram, as well as on authorjackori.com