Elinor Lipman

In the mid 1980s, I taught journalism at a small liberal arts college, although I was technically an adjunct faculty member in the English department. The “real” English teachers were appalled at and embarrassed by the “lightweight fiction” (their term) I preferred and tried to upgrade the quality of books I was reading. They suggested a novel by a “literary” author (book and author shall remain nameless). I slogged through it and found it dreary and dull. A better suggestion would have been Elinor Lipman. Thank goodness, I discovered her on my own. Although she writes what are described as comic novels, Elinor Lipman can address serious topics in a way that makes for extremely readable and enjoyable fiction. The way she uses the English language is absolutely beautiful, and the care she takes with every sentence is obvious. I’ve read all of Elinor’s books and so have my sisters Carol and Janet – and she’s one author we all just love. My personal favorites are her most recent novel, My Latest Grievance, and The Inn at Lake Devine. But, like the children of Lake Wobegon, all of Elinor Lipman’s books are “above average.”

Books:

Author Profile:

I was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, in 1950, the second daughter in an exceedingly functional family. Religion: Jewish. Schools: public. Pets: none. Roving guard in girls' basketball from 1965-68.

At Simmons college, I majored in something called "Publications"; I interned for the Lowell Sun's state house bureau, wrote snappy headlines for the school newspaper, and essays ("How to Be A Freshman," "The Blind Date") that were my first forays into social satire.

Between 1972 and 1981 I worked real jobs, writing press releases for Boston's public television station, WGBH (later mined for The Ladies' Man) and editing newsletters for various unglamorous organizations (later mined for My Latest Grievance). I married Robert Austin, a college blind date, in 1975 and would have taken his last name if I'd known what was ahead, comedy-of-manners-wise. At 28, I enrolled in an adult education creative writing course at Brandeis University, and began writing fiction with great trepidation—nights, weekends, and on my office IBM Correcting Selectric between deadlines. My first and second published stories appeared in Yankee Magazine in 1981 and '82. Into Love and Out Again, my first book, contained seven linked stories, which gave me the courage to try a novel. Then She Found Me was published in 1990 to more attention than I expected. The Way Men Act, Isabel's Bed, The Inn at Lake Devine, The Ladies' Man, The Dearly Departed, and The Pursuit of Alice Thrift followed. My Latest Grievance will be published in April 2006. In 2001, I received the New England Book Award for fiction for a body of work.

I've taught writing at Simmons, Smith, and Hampshire colleges, all in Massachusetts. My enthusiastic endorsements do appear on more than my share of other people's novels, but I never blurb a book unless I love it. I'm asked frequently to judge contests and to serve on panels for grants. Most recently I served on the 2006 literature panel for the National Endowment for the Arts. Here and there I review books (for the Boston Globe, Newsday, Washington Post, New York Times) and write essays that appear every five weeks in the Boston Globe Magazine's "Coupling" column.

I live part-time in Manhattan, but mostly in the bucolic yet chi-chi (8 sushi bars) college town of Northampton, Mass., home of Smith College. Bob and I have one child, a son, Benjamin, born in 1982, who turned out great.

Profile from author’s website. Used with permission.

Author website: http://www.elinorlipman.com/ (make sure to have your audio turned on!)

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elinor_Lipman