Jen Malia is Associate Professor of English at Norfolk State University. Her debut children's picture book, Too Sticky!: A Story of an Autistic Girl with Sensory Issues (Albert Whitman, spring 2020), is about a girl who has to overcome her fear of sticky hands to participate in her second-grade slime experiment. She has written essays for the New York Times, New York Magazine, the Washington Post, Woman’s Day, and Glamour, among others. She was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder in her late 30s, on the same day as her daughter. Website: JenMalia.com. Twitter: @momwithautism.
Knowing and understanding that I’m autistic has given me the strength to experience the excess of empathy that comes from reliving my vivid, video-like memories.
