Erica Wagner is an American author and critic, living in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England. She is former literary editor of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

''.

Biography

Erica Wagner was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

in 1967. She grew up on the

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper We ...

and went to the

Brearley School The Brearley School is an American all-girls private school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City. It educates approximately 770 girls in grades K–12, with approximately 50 to 65 students per grade. In addition to being a member ...

. She moved to Britain in the 1980s to continue her education, first at

St Paul's Girls' School St Paul's Girls' School is a private day school for girls, aged 11 to 18, located in Brook Green, Hammersmith, in west London, England. The school is included in The Schools Index as one of the world's 150 best private schools and among top ...

, then at

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus") is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th c ...

(BA), and finally at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a Public university, public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus university, campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and twenty-six schools of ...

(MA), where she was taught by

Malcolm Bradbury Sir Malcolm Stanley Bradbury, (7 September 1932 – 27 November 2000) was an English author and academic. Life Bradbury was born in Sheffield, the son of a railwayman. His family moved to London in 1935, but returned to Sheffield in 1941 wit ...

and

Rose Tremain Dame Rose Tremain (born 2 August 1943) is an English novelist, short story writer, and former Chancellor of the University of East Anglia. Life Rose Tremain was born Rosemary Jane Thomson on 2 August 1943 in London to Viola Mabel Thomson and ...

. She holds an honorary doctorate from the University of East Anglia and is Goldsmiths Distinguished Writers' Centre Fellow, an appointment made in January 2022. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. Her latest book is ''Mary and Mr Eliot: A Sort Of Love Story''. Her other books include a collection of short stories, ''Gravity'', ''Ariel's Gift:

Ted Hughes Edward James Hughes (17 August 1930 – 28 October 1998) was an English poet, translator, and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation and one of the twentieth century's greatest writers. He wa ...

Sylvia Plath Sylvia Plath (; October 27, 1932 – February 11, 1963) was an American poet and author. She is credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry and is best known for '' The Colossus and Other Poems'' (1960), '' Ariel'' (1965), a ...

, and the Story of Birthday Letters'', and the novel ''Seizure''. She is the author of a biography of

Washington Roebling Washington Augustus Roebling (May 26, 1837 – July 21, 1926) was an American civil engineer who supervised the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, designed by his father John A. Roebling. He served in the Union Army during the American Civ ...

, the engineer who constructed the

Brooklyn Bridge The Brooklyn Bridge is a cable-stayed suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East River. It w ...

. Wagner was literary editor of ''

'' between 1996 and June 2013. She reviews for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' and many other publications, including the New Statesman (for which she is a contributing writer), the Economist, the Observer, the Financial Times. Wagner was selected to be one of the judges for the

Man Booker Prize The Booker Prize, formerly the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a prestigious literary award conferred each year for the best single work of sustained fiction written in the English language, wh ...

in both 2002 and 2014. She has judged many other literary prizes as well. She is Editor-at-Large for ''Boundless'', a magazine launched by Unbound. She lives in London.

Bibliography

* ''Gravity'' (Granta, 1997) * ''Ariel's Gift: Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath and the Story of Birthday Letters'' (Faber & Faber/W. W. Norton, 2000) * ''Seizure'' (Faber & Faber, W. W. Norton, 2007) * ''First Light: A Celebration of Alan Garner'' (Unbound, 2016) * ''Chief Engineer: The Man Who Built the Brooklyn Bridge'' (Bloomsbury, 2017)(Bloomsbury) , * ''Mary and Mr Eliot: A Sort of Love Story'' (Faber & Faber/Farrar, Straus & Giroux)

References

1967 births Living people Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Alumni of the University of East Anglia American expatriates in England Brearley School alumni New Statesman people People educated at St Paul's Girls' School People with epilepsy American writers with disabilities The Times people Writers from New York City {{UK-writer-stub Fellows of the Royal Society of Literature