Lily Burana is the author of three books, including Strip City: A Stripper's Farewell Journey Across America, Try, and a memoir entitled I Love a Man in Uniform. Strip City was named Best Memoir in 2008 and Best Book of the Year in 2001 by Entertainment Weekly.

Burana also works as a journalist and has freelanced for The Washington Post, GQ, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Self, Glamour, Entertainment Weekly, Details, The Village Voice, and The New York Observer. She serves as a contributing editor for New York Magazine and Spin.

Burana married a Lieutenant Colonel in 2002. In 2008, she founded Operation Bombshell, a burlesque school for military wives. She currently lives with her husband in New York.