Elizabeth Merrick is the author of the 2005 novel Girly and an upcoming nonfiction book about radical creativity. In 2006 she created and edited the widely acclaimed Random House anthology This Is Not Chick Lit.  Way back in 2003 she founded her own writing school in Brooklyn, Elizabeth’s Workshops, and Grace, a star-studded longstanding New York literary reading series for women writers .

She holds a BA in film studies from Yale University, an MFA in creative writing from Cornell University, and an MA in Creativity and Arts Education from San Francisco State University.

“Elizabeth Merrick has written an ambitious and moving first novel, an intimate family epic.”

Tom Perrotta

“This Is Not Chick Lit is important not only for its content, but for its title. I’ll know we’re getting somewhere when equally talented male writers feel they have to separate themselves from the endless stream of fiction glorifying war, hunting and sports by naming an anthology This Is Not a Guy Thing.”

Gloria Steinem

“Forget the horse whisperer. Elizabeth Merrick is ‘the book whisperer.’ As a coach, she gave me belief in the project, organization and hope.”

Katherine Lanpher