Elizabeth McCracken (born 1966) is an American author.
McCracken, a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, graduated from Newton North High School in Newton, Massachusetts, earned a B.A. and M.A. in English from Boston University, an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa, and an M.S. in library science from Drexel University. In 2008 and 2009 McCracken lived in Cambridge, MA, where she was a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. She is married to the novelist Edward Carey. They have a son, August George Carey Harvey, and a daughter, Matilda Libby Mary Harvey; an earlier child died before birth, an experience which formed the basis of McCracken's memoir An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination. She currently lives in Iowa City, Iowa, where she and her husband are on the faculty of the Iowa Writers' Workshop. In 2010, McCracken will become Michener Professor of Creative Writing at the University of Texas at Austin. She is the sister of former PC World magazine editor-in-chief and founder of Technologizer.com Harry McCracken.
Ann Patchett in an interview on her novel "Run," mentions that Elizabeth McCracken is her editor and is the only person to read her manuscripts as she is writing.
Stories (1993, Random House)–the American Library Association listed this anthology on their "Notable Books for 1994" list [1]
The Giant's House (1996, Vintage/Avon)–Granta Books included the excerptThe Giant of Cape Cod from The Giant's House in their collection Granta 54: Best of Young American Novelists [2]
Niagara Falls All Over Again (2001)
An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination (2008)