She studied fine art at Reed College in Portland, Oregon, received a B.F.A. in creative writing from the California Institute of Arts, later and her M.F.A. from San Francisco State University.
In 1974, Dykewomon published her first novel, Riverfinger Women, under her name of birth, Elana Nachman.
Her second book, They Will Know Me By My Teeth, released in 1976, was published under the name Elana Dykewoman, "at once an expression of her strong commitment to the lesbian community and a way to keep herself 'honest,' since anyone reading the book would know the author was a lesbian."
The book of poetry, Fragments From Lesbos printed in 1981 "for lesbians only," was published under the author's current last name, "Dykewomon," in order "to avoid etymological connection with men."
In the 1989 anthology of writing by Jewish Women, The Tribe of Dina, Dykewomon describes herself as "a Lesbian Separatist, descendant of the Baal Shem Tov, typesetter, ...poet"
From 1987—1995, Dykewomon edited Sinister Wisdom, an international lesbian feminist journal of literature, art and politics, as well as contributing regularly to several other lesbian periodicals, including Common Lives/Lesbian Lives. She has also been a regular contributor to Bridges a magazine of writing by Jewish Women.
Beyond The Pale, a historical novel published by Press Gang Publishers in 1997, won a 1998 Lambda Literary Award for best Lesbian novel of that year.
Riverfinger Women was selected by a panel of judges (including Dorothy Allison, Samuel R. Delany, Lillian Faderman, M.E. Kerr, Sarah Schulman, and Barbara Smith) as #87/100 in The Publishing Triangle's list of 100 best lesbian and gay novels
Riverfinger Women: a novel (under Elana Nachman). Daughters, Inc., 1974
They Will Know Me By My Teeth, short stories and poetry Megaera Press, 1976.
Fragments from Lesbos: poetry Diaspora Distribution, 1981
Nothing Will Be As Sweet As The Taste, selected poems Onlywomen Press, 1995
Beyond the Pale Press Gang Publishers, 1997
Moon Creek Road Spinster's ink books, 2003
Anthologies
The Body Politic ... Meditations on Identity in This Bridge We Call Home — Radical Visions for Transformation, edited by Gloria Anzaldúa and Analouise Keating, Routledge, 2002.
Manna from Heaven - from The Tribe of Dina: A Jewish Women's Anthology, Beacon Press, 1989, ISBN 0807036056
The Fourth Daughter’s Four Hundred Questions, Nice Jewish Girls: A Lesbian Anthology. Boston: Beacon, 1989.
Various Poetry, in What I Want From You — Voices of East Bay Lesbian Poets, edited: Linda Zeiser and Trena Machado, Raw Art Press, 2006
Seeking Welcome, in Love, Castro Street, edited: Katherine V. Forrest and Jim Van Buskirk, Alyson Press, 2007
Traveling Fat, Out the Other Side ... Contemporary Lesbian Writing, Virago Press, London, England, 1989.
Periodicals
My Mother and the Wars in Bridges — A Journal for Jewish Feminists and Our Friends edited by Clare Kinberg, Vol. 9, No. 2, Eugene, Oregon, 2002
Changing the World in Journal of Lesbian Studies, Volume 5, Number 3, edited by Nanette Gartrell, M.D. and Ester Rothblum, PhD, Harrington Park Press, December, 2001
Are We Ready to Throw Our Weight Around? — Fat Women and Political Activism, (co-authored with Esther Rothblum) in The Fat Studies Reader, edited: Esther Rothblum and Sondra Solovay, University of California Press, 2007
Lesbian Quarters: On Building Space, Identity, Institutional Memory and Resources, Journal of Lesbian Studies (Vol. 9, Numbers 1 & 2, 2005)
Butch resisting the pressure to change gender, Sojourner, Boston, April 2000.
