Zoe Zolbrod is the author of the novel Coin of the Realm (forthcoming from TriQuarterly Books/Northwestern University Press, 2027), the memoir The Telling (Curbside Splendor, 2016), which won a silver IPPY Award and was a Chicago Review of Books award finalist, and the novel Currency (Other Voices Books, 2010), which was a Friends of American Writers prize finalist. Her essays, short stories, and author interviews have appeared in places such as Salon, The Guardian, Lit Hub, The Nervous Breakdown, The Chicago Reader, and The Rumpus, where she served as the Sunday co-editor. She writes about the books she reads on Substack at Zoe’s Book Log. As a public speaker, she’s given talks at universities, workshops, and conferences on topics such as narrative voice; the differences between writing fiction and nonfiction; balancing paid work, parenting, and writing; child sexual abuse; childhood as writing inspiration; and writing about trauma.

Born in western Pennsylvania, Zolbrod graduated from Oberlin College and then moved to Chicago, where she received an M.A. from the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Program for Writers. She makes her living in the field of educational publishing and technology, and lives in Evanston, IL.

 Author photo: Aaliya Enteen Weheliye