Overview
I'm the co-founder of the literary magazine Off Assignment, and I teach part-time at Yale Summer Session. I've edited various nonfiction manuscripts, including The Recovering (Leslie Jamison) and Hard to Love (Briallen Hopper), and provided critiques for individual chapters/essays in The Empathy Exams (Leslie Jamison), Make it Scream Make it Burn (Leslie Jamison), and The Cloudbuster Nine (Anne R. Keene).I've taught at the Yale Summer Writers' Conference, The Gotham Writers' Workshop, The Sackett Street Writers' Workshop, The University Of Iowa, The Banff Literary Journalism Program, The Millay Colony, Semester-at-Sea, the Chautauqua Institute, and OSU's MFA Program at Cascades. I'm also the author of the guidebook Delaying the Real World (Running Press, 2005) and the co-editor of the anthology Confessions of a High School Word Nerd (Penguin, 2007). As editor of the forthcoming essay collection Letter to a Stranger: Essays to the Ones Who Haunt Us (Algonquin, fall 2021), I worked with esteemed writers such as Peter Orner, Vanessa Hua, T Kira Madden, Pico Iyer, Faith Adiele, and Elizabeth Kolbert, to shape and polish their stories. I love helping writers find their way through long projects, and giving them propulsive feedback that helps them reach the finish line. Morale matters to me it; it's an aspect of this creative journey I attend to. After all, I'm a writer myself. I've been there. Making a book cohere is--well, the hardest thing.
Services
Non-Fiction
Biographies & Memoirs
Political Science & Current Affairs
Self-Help & Self-Improvement
Travel
Languages
English (US)
Awards
- MacDowell Colony Fellow
- Yaddo Fellow
- American-Scandinavian Foundation grantee
- University of Iowa Museum Writer-in-Residence
- Yale English Department Henry P. Wright Prize for Journalism
- Fulbright Grant
- Breadloaf Conference Tuition Scholar
- Selected for Best American Travel Writing 2014 (by Elizabeth Gilbert)
Work experience
Off Assignment
Jul, 2013 —
Dec, 2017
(over 4 years)
Yale University & Yale Summer Session
Sep, 2011 —
Present
Gotham Writers' Workshop
Feb, 2009 —
May, 2014
(about 5 years)
Life Magazine
Dec, 2004 —
Jan, 2005
(about 1 month)
Portfolio
Congratulations - you've finished school. But if you're not sure you're ready to settle down into an office environment, Delaying the Real World is chock-full of creative ideas and practical information that will help you craft your own life-changing adventure... read more
From personal loss to phantom diseases, The Empathy Exams is a bold and brilliant collection, winner of the Graywolf Press Nonfiction PrizeA Publishers Weekly Top Ten Essay Collection of Spring 2014Beginning with her experience as a medical actor who was paid ... read more
Effortlessly acquire an SAT vocabulary through hilarious high school essays Every year, 9 million American students expend large amounts of time and energy preparing for proficiency and entrance exams like the SAT, ACT, PSAT, and SSAT with a heap of vocabulary... read more
A sharp and entertaining essay collection about the importance of multiple forms of love and friendship in a world designed for couples, from a laser-precise new voice.Sometimes it seems like there are two American creeds, self-reliance and marriage, and neith... read more
INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER"An astounding triumph . . . Profound . . . Achingly wise . . . A recovery memoir like no other." --Entertainment Weekly (A)"Riveting . . . Beautifully told." --Boston Globe"An honest and important book . . . Vivid writing and ... read more
