The first official surgical intervention for gender dysphoria in the United States was in 1917 when Dr. In This is How it Always is, Penn researches sex reassignment surgery, particularly vaginoplasty-the surgical construction of a vagina, usually from existing penial and scrotal tissue-in case Poppy considers surgical options when she gets older as treatment for her gender dysphoria. She lives in Seattle with her husband and daughter. Frankel is at work on her next novel, and she also teaches for several nonprofit organizations. Frankel is also the author of several essays, including “Raising a Transgender Child in the Age of Trump” and “We Adopted by Choice not Necessity,” and she has published work in the Guardian, Lit Hub, and People Magazine. This is How it Always is was a New York Times bestseller and was named a Best Book of the Year by People magazine, the Chicago Public Library, and Amazon. The book won the 2018 Washington State Book Award and has been translated into over 20 languages. Frankel published her third novel, This is How it Always is, in 2017 to popular and critical acclaim.

Goodbye for Now was the winner of the 2013 Endeavor Award, an annual award for outstanding science fiction writing by a Pacific Northwest writer, and was also a New York Times Editor’s Choice. Frankel’s second novel, Goodbye for Now, was published in 2012.

Prior to 2011, writer Laurie Frankel worked as a college professor teaching writing, literature, and gender studies however, she transitioned to writing full-time after the publication of her first novel, The Atlas of Love, which was a finalist for the Pacific Northwest Book Award. Part I: Once Upon a Time, Claude Was Born.

This is how it always is a novel