J. Courtney Sullivan received a B.A. in Victorian literature from Smith College in 2003. She worked for Allure and then moved to The New York Times. Her work has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, The Chicago Tribune, New York, Elle, Glamour, the New York Observer, and Men's Vogue. Her first book, Dating Up: Dump the Shlump and Find a Quality Man, was published in 2007. In 2010, she co-edited a feminist essay collection entitled Click: When We Knew We Were Feminists. Her fiction works include Commencement, Maine and The Engagements.