Biography
I was born into a writing family.
My great-great-uncle, Theodore Roosevelt, was the author of thirty-eight books. His sister, my great-grandmother, Corinne Roosevelt Robinson, was a published poet. Here’s a picture of her at the 1920 Republican Convention. She’s the one in the biggest hat in the back row on the left. Some people think I look like her. If you click on this link, you can hear a speech she gave at the convention.
As far as I know, I’m the only published fiction writer in the family. My “habit” makes the family nervous. My uncle John used to say that “every time Elizabeth writes a book it’s like dodging a bullet.”
I grew up in Washington, D.C., the only girl surrounded by five brothers. My father worked at home, and one of my earliest memories is the pop-pop of typewriter keys hitting the round rubber carriage of his old Underwood. I grew up believing that writing was an honorable profession and that you could actually make a living at it. Luckily that’s turned out to be true for me.
And I’ve always been a reader. I’ve written books for children of all ages (THE CASTLE IN THE ATTIC, COUNTING ON GRACE, DUMPY LA RUE and lots more: see my bookshelf), novels for adults (IN MY MOTHER’S HOUSE and ISLAND JUSTICE), short stories (The Golden Darters, Best American Short Stories 1992), and poetry (published in anthologies and literary reviews).
I’m a restless writer. I can’t seem to stick to one genre or subject. Right now I’m working on a book for adult readers, a kind of personal history about my family. But keep checking back… I could change my mind any minute.
“Writing a novel is like driving in the fog; you can only see as far as the headlights, but that’s enough; it’s as far as you need to see.” E.L. Doctorow
