Elizabeth Berg (born December 2, 1948) is an American novelist. Berg was born in

Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center ...

, USA, and lived in

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prior to her residence in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. She studied English and Humanities at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

, but later ended up with a nursing degree . Her writing career started when she won an essay contest in ''

Parents A parent is a caregiver of the offspring in their own species. In humans, a parent is the caretaker of a child (where "child" refers to offspring, not necessarily age). A ''biological parent'' is a person whose gamete resulted in a child, a male t ...

'' magazine. Since her

debut novel A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...

in 1993, her novels have sold in large numbers and have received several awards and nominations, even though some critics have tagged them as sentimental. She won the New England Book Awards in 1997. The three novels ''Durable Goods'', ''Joy School'', and ''True to Form'' form a trilogy about the 12-year-old Katie Nash, in part based on the author's own experience as a daughter in a military family. Most recently, her essay "The Pretend Knitter" appears in the anthology ''Knitting Yarns: Writers on Knitting'', published by W. W. Norton & Company in November 2013.

Bibliography

*''Family traditions: celebrations for holidays and everyday'' (1992), illustrations by Robert Roth *''Durable Goods'' (1993), selected as

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Best Books of the Year *''Talk Before Sleep'' (1994), highlighting the fight against

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*''Range of Motion'' (1995) *''The Pull of the Moon'' (1996) *''Joy School'' (1997), selected among the

1998 Best Books for Young Adults1998 Best Books for Young Adults
, Young Adult Library Services Association,

website, retrieved on January 7, 2009. *''What We Keep'' (1998) *''Escaping into the Open: The Art of Writing True'' (1999), non-fiction *''Until the Real Thing Comes Along'' (1999), about a woman's love for a gay man *'' Open House'' (2000),

Oprah's Book Club Oprah's Book Club was a book discussion club segment of the American talk show ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', highlighting books chosen by host Oprah Winfrey. Winfrey started the book club in 1996, selecting a new book, usually a novel, for viewers ...

selection *''Never Change'' (2001) *''Ordinary Life: stories'' (2002) *''True to Form'' (2002) *''Say When'' (2003) *''The Art of Mending'' (2004) *''The Year of Pleasures'' (2005) *''The Handmaid and the Carpenter'' (2006) *''We Are All Welcome Here'' (2006) *''Dream When You're Feeling Blue'' (2007) *''The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted'' (2008) *''Home Safe'' (2009) *''The Last Time I Saw You'' (2010) *''Once Upon a Time, There Was You'' (2011) *''Tapestry of Fortunes'' (2013) *''The Dream Lover'' (2015) *''Make Someone Happy: Favorite Postings'' (2016) *''The Story of Arthur Truluv'' (2017) *''Night of Miracles'' (2018) *''The Confession Club'' (2019) *''I'll Be Seeing You: a Memoir'' (2020)

References

External links

*
Author presentation
by publisher Random House, Inc.
Meet the Writers
from Barnes & Noble 1948 births Living people 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American women novelists University of Minnesota School of Nursing alumni Writers from Chicago 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers Novelists from Illinois {{US-novelist-1940s-stub