Ellen Litman (born 1973) is an American

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others asp ...

. She received the

Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award The Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award was an award given annually to beginning women writers. Established in 1995 by American author Rona Jaffe, the Foundation offers grants to writers of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. The award wa ...

in 2006.

Formative years

Born in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

, Russia, Litman emigrated with her parents in 1992 to

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. She was educated at the

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a public state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The university is composed of 17 undergraduate and graduate schools and colleges at its urban Pittsburgh campus, home to the univers ...

and earned a

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

Information Science Information science (also known as information studies) is an academic field which is primarily concerned with analysis, collection, classification, manipulation, storage, retrieval, movement, dissemination, and protection of informatio ...

. For six years she worked as a software developer in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

and

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

Literary career

During the fall of 1998, Litman began to formally study writing. She earned her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing in 2004 from Syracuse University. That same year, Litman was also chosen by the Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing for one of its six fellowships, which ran between August and May in

Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the county seat of Dane County and the capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census the population was 269,840, making it the second-largest city in Wisconsin by population, after Milwaukee, and the 80th-lar ...

of that year. One of three fiction writers selected, she received a $25,000 stipend to support her writing. In September 2006, newspapers reported that Litman was one of six emerging writers to receive the Rona Jaffe Foundation's Writers' Award, a $15,000 prize which is given annually to "women writers who demonstrate excellence and promise in the early stages of their careers." As of 2023, Litman is an associate professor and associate director of the Creative Writing Program at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...

Works

* ''The Last Chicken in America: A Novel in Stories'', (New York: W.W. Norton, 2007) * ''Mannequin Girl: A Novel'', (W. W. Norton & Company, 2014)Olidort, Shoshana
Review: Mannequin Girl by Ellen Litman
''Chicago Tribune''

References

Sources

''Contemporary Authors Online''. The Gale Group, 2007. PEN (Permanent Entry Number): 0000162696.

External links

Ellen Litman
(official author's page), Penguin Random House. {{DEFAULTSORT:Litman, Ellen 1973 births Living people 21st-century American novelists American women novelists Writers from Pittsburgh University of Pittsburgh alumni American people of Russian-Jewish descent Russian Jews Jewish American novelists 21st-century American women writers Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award winners Novelists from Pennsylvania Russian emigrants to the United States 21st-century American Jews