20S x AFP | Tommy Dorfman Book Talk

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On a hot summer day, twenty-eight-year-old Tommy Dorfman was enjoying a beautiful outing on a boat. But inside she felt unmoored. After a lifetime of confusion, she’d finally gained clarity around her gender and had begun to transition. But there were still parts of herself she’d locked away, elements of her story that she needed, for the first time, to fully confront. She sought guidance in a tarot deck, using it as a tool to make sense of her life up until that point.Maybe This Will Save Me, Dorfman’s spellbinding debut memoir, is structured through the cards of that tarot pull. The youngest of five children, she grappled with her own identity from an early age and spent her teenage years numbed by drugs and alcohol. At the same time, she harbored dreams of creative stardom and a desire to make herself seen. But the path, at times, had felt impossible.Charting her early struggles in theater, her rise to fame in 13 Reasons Why, her hard-fought journey to sobriety, and the relationships that shaped her, Dorfman’s luminously written, bracingly honest memoir reintroduces us to a writer who stands alongside Michelle Zauner, Jennette McCurdy, and Maggie Nelson in her visionary scope and craft.

Tommy Dorfman (she/her) is an Atlanta-born Brooklyn-based writer, director, and actor. Her debut feature film, I WISH YOU ALL THE BEST, premiered at SXSW in 2024 and will be theatrically distributed in 2025. 

As an actor she made her Broadway debut in Sam Gold’s Romeo and Juliet at Circle in the Square in 2024, and is known best for her work in Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why. Her production company, Down the Line, launched in 2024 and is focused on shining a light on various human experiences not yet told in film, television, and theater. She holds a BA from Fordham University, is the recipient of a GLAAD Award, and loves being gay. 

Host or Publisher Twenty Summers