The Common, Spring 2018
“The Shed,” a personal essay, appeared in the Spring 2018 issue of The Common. It was nominated for a 2019 Pushcart Prize. See more here.
"A Very Fine Line: A Brooklyn Artist Free-Associates on Her Walls," a profile of Shantell Martin in her Bed-Stuy home on the cover of The New York Times Home section. Photos by Trevor Tondro.
I am the grateful recipient of a 2023 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in Nonfiction Literature from The New York Foundation for the Arts. Read the full announcement here.
Other awards, residencies, scholarships, juries, and service include:
2025 Tin House Winter Online Workshop Participant
B. Frank Vogel Scholar in Nonfiction, 2018 Bread Loaf Writers' Conference
Residency and Merit-Based Grant, Nonfiction, Vermont Studio Center, October 2017 and January 2019 (and February 2023, unable to attend)
Finalist, 2017 Robert and Adele Schiff Awards in Prose, The Cincinnati Review
Finalist, 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 Workspace Residency Program, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC)
Research Residency, Wertheim Study, New York Public Library, 2017; 2012; 2011; 2010
Judge, 2016 Gibson Peacock Prize for Creative Nonfiction, University of Pennsylvania
Judge, 2016 Bechtel Prize, presented by Teachers & Writers Collaborative Magazine
Finalist, 2012 Deadline Club Award in Social Media, “Watching and Tweeting Andy Warhol’s ‘Empire,’ Society of Professional Journalists
Volunteer, PEN Prison Writing Mentor, 2012-2014
Runner-up, 2012 Magazine Contest, Georgetown Review
Honorable mention, 2010 Writing Contest, The Atlantic
Bread Loaf 2018 Tuition Scholar
Attended the 2018 Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference as the B. Frank Vogel Scholar in Nonfiction. Photo credit.
I have worked as an editor for 20 years, either on staff, as a consultant, or on a contract-basis. Since 2018, I have served as managing editor of ACLU Magazine, produced by Pentagram. I have also worked at Time Inc., Meredith, and others, overseeing editorial aspects of print publications and digital.
I welcome private clients. Please submit queries via the Contact form.
On Curbed: "The Quest to Save LA's Century-Old Batchelder Tile Masterpiece," a 4,000-word viral feature about a shuttered historic landmark featuring perhaps the most significant interior architecture in the city. Photo by Elizabeth Daniels.
As a design journalist, I’ve also worked on several books:
The Greenwich Hotel, Writer and Collaborator with the team of Robert De Niro, 2020
Interior Design: Best of Residential Architecture and Design, Sandow Media, Contributing Writer, 2013
Interior Design: Best of Office Architecture and Design, Sandow Media, Contributing Writer, 2012
Teaching in the Press
WSJ. Magazine, “Start-Up Genius Wants to Annotate the Internet”
Teachers & Writers Magazine, "Synesthesia: Literary Device"
Teachers & Writers Magazine, "The Churchill Style"
Teachers & Writers Magazine, “Young Writers of the World: Savannah”
Teachers & Writers Magazine, “Young Writers of the World: Ethan”
Teachers & Writers Magazine, “Point of View and the Pyramids”
Homebodies (a 2008-2011 blog, now archived) in the Press
The New York Times, “Young Photographer Breaks the Rules, Finds Success”
T, The New York Times Style Magazine, “How This Half Lives”
The Guardian, “Homebodies: an interiors blog that celebrates the ordinary”
Swide from Dolce & Gabbana, “Through the Virtual Keyhole”
English Muse, “Homebodies”
LA Observed by Kevin Roderick, “Liz visits and blogs about it”
Homebodies (2009-2013) and Homebodies for Nylon (2016):
My column “Homebodies,” in Nylon, was based on my former blog of the same name, featuring eccentric people in their environments. Pictured here is artist Judith Supine in his Brooklyn apartment, photographed by Eric Helgas for Nylon.
At the blog, Homebodies, I chronicled my visits—in photography and writing—to un-styled homes, with a strong interest in the ordinary.
Popular posts included:
A visit with the filmmaker Jonas Mekas in Brooklyn (pictured), who uses photography like a notebook. "I scribble with my camera."
A series on author Phillip Lopate, who shares his system for shelving books at home in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn.
The Manhattan home of jewelry designer Catherine Chung.
Graphic designer and typographer Jessica Fleischmann in Echo Park, Los Angeles.
The Manhattan home of architect David Ling.
Teaching Artistry with Teachers & Writers Collaborative
Teachers & Writers Collaborative was founded in 1967 by a group of writers and educators who believed that professional writers could make a unique contribution to the teaching of writing and literature. Those responsible for shaping T&W’s program and philosophy in the organization’s early years included June Jordan, Rosellen Brown, Victor Hernández Cruz, Kenneth Koch, Herbert Kohl, Phillip Lopate, Grace Paley, Muriel Rukeyser, Anne Sexton, and Robert Silvers.
As a teaching artist with Teachers & Writers Collaborative from 2010-2017, I brought creative writing programs to I.S. 392 in Brownsville, Brooklyn, and led professional development courses there for teachers.
Residencies:
• Poetry Residency (on poetry and music lyrics) in fifth and seventh grades (including special needs) via Teachers & Writers Collaborative, P.S. 156/I.S. 392 in Brownsville, Brooklyn, NY, 2014-2015.
• Creative-Nonfiction Writing Residency (on the Harlem Renaissance) in seventh grade via Teachers & Writers Collaborative, P.S. 156/I.S. 392 in Brownsville, Brooklyn, NY, 2012-2013.
• Creative-Nonfiction Writing Residency (on street fashion) in seventh grade via Teachers & Writers Collaborative, P.S. 156/I.S. 392 in Brownsville, Brooklyn, NY, 2011-2012.
In 2013, I was appointed to T&W's Common Core Leadership Team. As a team of master teaching artists, we interpreted the new requirements of the Common Core as they pertained to creative writing and taught professional development workshops within the organization.
From 2015-2017, I was a member of T&W's Editorial Board to support its publication, Teachers & Writers Magazine. The site publishes lesson plans, student writing, interviews with authors, and essays on the art of teaching.
Online at The Paris Review, "Painting with Fire" is an interview with encaustic painter, Betsy Eby. Pictured here is her work, Sanguine II.
