Orange Is the New Black (Kerman)

Author Bio
• Birth—1970
• Where—Boston, Massachusetts, USA
• Education—B.A., Smith College
• Currently—


Piper Kerman is an American memoirist whose experiences in prison provided the basis for the comedy-drama series Orange Is the New Black.

Kerman was born in 1970 in Boston into a family with many doctors, attorneys and educators and graduated from Smith College in 1992. A self-described WASP, in 1993 she entered into a romantic relationship with Nora Jansen, a woman who dealt heroin for a West African kingpin. Kerman laundered money for the drug operation.

In 1998, Kerman was indicted for money laundering and drug trafficking and subsequently pled guilty. Beginning in 2004, she served 13 months of a 15 month sentence at FCI Danbury, a minimum security prison located in Danbury, Connecticut.

At present, Kerman is vice president of a Washington, D.C.–based communications firm that works with foundations and nonprofits. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Kerman published her best-selling memoir about her experiences in prison, Orange Is the New Black, in 2010. An adaptation of the same name by Jenji Kohan, the Emmy award-winning creator of Weeds, debuted in July 2013 exclusively on Netflix. Kerman's analogue on the series ("Piper Chapman") is played by Taylor Schilling. (From Wikipedia.)