Elizabeth Poliner
"Beautifully written, stringently unsentimental, and yet tender in its empathy for the perennial human conflict between service and self."
– Kirkus Reviews (starred review for As Close to Us as Breathing)

Latest News


Elizabeth Poliner’s Recent Publications

Here are Elizabeth Poliner’s recent publications! “Anomie”, (short story) Story Magazine, Summer 2019 Poems in The Sun: “What was Astonishing”, The Sun Magazine, October 2019 “Climate Change”, The Sun Magazine, September 2019 “Walking at Night”, The Sun Magazine, February 2019

Short story “Sabelle” named a 2019 Nelson Algren Literary Award Finalist

Elizabeth Poliner’s short story “Sabelle” was named a 2019 Nelson Algren Literary Award Finalist (one of three finalists out of over 3,000 stories) and published in the Chicago Review. At her husband Manny’s funeral, Kaye hoped she hadn’t gone on too long with her eulogy but she had a feeling…

As Close to Us as Breathing wins the 2017 Janet Heidinger Kafka Prize!

From the Kafka Prize Committee Although Elizabeth Poliner’s As Close to Us as Breathing takes place within the confines of a small seaside community, the story the novel tells is nothing short of epic. Unfolding over multiple generations of an American-Jewish family, Poliner’s work encompasses a world much larger than…

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