Photo credit: Jody Christopherson

Erika Dreifus

b. 1969

Current City, State, Country

New York, New York, USA

Birth City, State, Country

Brooklyn, New York, USA

Biography

Erika Dreifus is the author of Birthright: Poems (Kelsay Books). She is also the author of Quiet Americans: Stories, a short-story collection that is largely inspired by the histories and experiences of her paternal grandparents, German Jews who escaped Nazi persecution and immigrated to the United States in the late 1930s. Erika earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from Harvard University, where she taught history, literature, and writing for several years. A fellow in the Sami Rohr Jewish Literary Institute and adjunct associate professor at Baruch College of The City University of New York, she writes and lectures widely on topics literary and/or Jewish. Erika is also the publisher-editor of  The Practicing Writer, a free (and popular) e-newsletter for writers of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. She lives in New York City.

Published Works

Poetry
Birthright: Poems (Kelsay Books, 2019)

Prose
Quiet Americans: Stories (Last Light Studio, 2011)

Author Site

Links to Sample Works

Video Reading

Education

  • AB, Harvard/Radcliffe (History and Literature)
  • EdM, Harvard Graduate School of Education
  • AM and PhD, Harvard University (History)
  • MFA, Queens University of Charlotte

Subject Matter

Genre