Ali Liebegott

Ali Liebegott (born August 8, 1971) is an American writer, actor, and comedian. She is best known for her work as a novelist and a writer/producer on the Amazon original series Transparent. Liebegott has taught creative writing at University of California, San Diego and Mills College. She is a recipient of a Poetry Fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts. She is the author of The Beautifully Worthless; The IHOP Papers; and Cha-Ching!. Liebegott resides in Los Angeles and recently finished her fourth book, The Summer of Dead Birds.

Career

Nonprofit work Liebegott was the managing director at RADAR Productions, a nonprofit in San Francisco whose mission is to "give voice to innovative queer and outsider writers and artists whose work authentically reflects the LGBTQA community's diverse experiences." RADAR Productions held an annual queer artists' retreat, THE RADAR LAB, in Akumal, Mexico, that Liebegott helped found and run. Traveling and the open road are recurrent themes in Liebegott's work, which often provides the context to explore the experiences of living on the margins from perspectives beyond that of straight male privilege. When asked about the lack of female road stories in contemporary literature, Liebegott has said that there isn't a lack of female road narratives so much as there aren't enough publishers choosing to print these works. The second book of this trilogy, The Summer of Dead Birds, had "never seen the light of day" until Feminist Press published it in 2019.

Television and upcoming works In 2014, Liebegott joined the writing staff of Amazon's original series Transparent, created by Jill Soloway. She wrote and produced for the entire run of the show, which won a Peabody Award and multiple Golden Globe and Emmy Awards, including the Golden Globe for Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy.

Transparent Episodes "Wedge" (2014) “Man on the Land" (2015) “Life Sucks and Then You Die" (2016) “Groin Anomaly" (2017) “Babar the Borrible" (2017) Liebegott's television acting work has included roles on Transparent, Maron, and Ten Days in the Valley. She also does standup throughout Los Angeles as both herself and her dog, Flaca.

Liebegott's collection of poems, The Summer of Dead Birds, was published in 2019 by the Feminist Press. She also plans to finish a novel which began as an illustrated project that includes over three hundred pen, ink, and watercolor drawings. The project, about a post-9/11 obsessive duck feeder, was started in 2001 and is titled The Crumb People.

Awards Liebegott won the 2009 Ferro-Grumley Award for LGBT literature, for The IHOP Papers. She has won two Lambda Literary Awards, in the categories of Lesbian Debut Fiction for The Beautifully Worthless in 2006, and Lesbian Fiction for The IHOP Papers in 2008.

In 2015, Liebegott and the rest of the writing staff received a Peabody Award for Season 2 of Transparent.

Works The Beautifully Worthless (Suspect Thoughts, 2005; City Lights, 2013) The IHOP Papers (Carroll & Graf, 2007) Cha-Ching! (City Lights, 2013)