Her work has also appeared in Medium magazine, New York, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, The New Republic, Slate, Salon, The Washington Monthly, Legal Affairs, Utne Reader and National Journal.

After first attending Hunter College, she transferred to Harvard University, where she graduated magna cum laude in 1997.

[2] Franke-Ruta was born on July 29, 1972, in Cavaillon while her parents were staying in Lacoste, Vaucluse,[3] and grew up in San Cristóbal de las Casas in Chiapas, Mexico, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and New York City.

[4] Her first name is a French word referring to rose madder, a shade of red, and is the name of the main character in Les Enfants du Paradis.

She then moved to New York City and was a central part of activist group ACT UP, participating in many protests to fight AIDS, as seen in the documentary film How to Survive a Plague.