Elinor Lipman

Elinor Lipman (born October 16, 1950) is an American novelist, short story writer, and essayist.

Born and raised in Lowell, Massachusetts to a Jewish family, Lipman began a writing career as a college intern with the Lowell Sun, and wrote press releases for WGBH throughout the 1970s. She began writing fiction in 1979, and her first short story, “Catering,” was published in Yankee Magazine. Lipman’s first book, Into Love and Out Again, a collection of short stories, was published by Viking in 1987. She published her first novel, Then She Found Me, in 1990. Lipman graduated from Simmons College where she studied journalism. She lives in western Massachusetts and Manhattan. Her 1998 novel The Inn at Lake Devine, explores Antisemitism and Jewish intermarriage. Lipman received the New England Book award for fiction in 2001. Her novel Then She Found Me was adapted into a 2008 feature film, directed by and starring Helen Hunt, Bette Midler, Colin Firth and Matthew Broderick, a process that took 19 years.Two of her other novels have also been optioned for movies.

Her book of rhyming political tweets, Tweet Land of Liberty: Irreverent Rhymes from the Political Circus was published in August 2012 from Beacon Press. Her essays have appeared in The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, The New York Times and Salon.com. The View from Penthouse B (her 10th novel) and I Can't Complain: (All Too) Personal Essays (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) were published in 2013. The latter deals in part with the death of her husband at age 60. She was the Elizabeth Drew Professor of Creative Writing at Smith College in 2011-2012. Her poem, "I Bought This Pattern Book Last Spring" appears in the anthology Knitting Yarns: Writers on Knitting, published by W. W. Norton & Company in 2013. She writes a weekly column, "I Might Complain," for Parade.com. Lipman's writing is known for its wit and societal observations.