Erika Mailman is the author of six traditionally-published novels. Her adult novels include The Witch’s Trinity, a San Francisco Chronicle Notable Book which Khaled Hosseini called “gripping”; Woman of Ill Fame which Diana Gabaldon of the Outlander series called, “one of the best books I’ve read in a long time,” and the award-winning The Murderer’s Maid: a Lizzie Borden Novel. She holds an MFA in poetry and has been a Yaddo fellow and Bram Stoker Award finalist. Under the pen name Lynn Carthage, her young adult trilogy includes Haunted, Betrayed and Avenged. As a travel writer, her articles have appeared in National Geographic, Smithsonian, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, Lit Hub, and more. She is a day-rate freelancer for Time Out’s US and San Francisco teams. More recently, she has joined the San Francisco Writers Conference as a volunteer organizing the nonfiction presenters track.

On a more personal note:
I grew up in Vermont and attended Colby College and the University of Arizona, Tucson, where I received an MFA in poetry. I took my junior year at University College, Cork, Ireland. I now live in northern California, not far from where gold was discovered for the Gold Rush, with my husband, two kids, and a rescue Jack Russell Terrier. I used to be a cat person. ;)

I read widely and write widely. I sometimes teach novel writing online (click on the Mailstrom tab), have presented at many writing conferences, and even spent several years as co-director of a small writers conference.

I love travel and history (and combining both makes me really happy). I also adore art, and am so happy I got to interview the artist Wayne Thiebaud by phone the day after his 100th birthday.

Looking for Help for Aspiring Novelists?

Follow me on Instagram @ErikaMailman

Need to email me? Try typing my first name @ erikamailman.com

A FEW OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS
Pride and Prejudice
Anne of Green Gables
Little Women
Tom’s Midnight Garden
The Diamond in the Window
The Shipping News
Beloved
The House on Parchment Street
The Haunting of Hill House
Year of Wonders
Girl with a Pearl Earring
Anything by Sarah Waters