Toni McNaron is an educator, memoirist and lesbian feminist critic. She taught literature and Women's Studies at the University of Minnesota for thirty-seven years, and was founder and chair of the Women's Studies Program, the Center for Advanced Feminist Studies, and the GLBT Studies Program. Upon retirement, the University of Minnesota recognized her as a Distinguished Teaching Professor.
McNaron's critically acclaimed first memoir, I Dwell in Possibility, was published in 1992 as part of the Cross-Cultural Memoir Series from The Feminist Press. She also wrote Poisoned Ivy: Lesbian and Gay Academics Confront Homophobia (Temple University Press, 1996), a compelling ethnographic study of homophobia in the academy.
McNaron is currently working on a collection of essays entitled An Amethyst Remembrance. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota.