Erica Wagner was born in New York City in 1967. She grew up on the Upper West Side and went to the Brearley School. As a child she suffered from epilepsy.

She moved to Britain in the 1980s to continue her education, first at St Paul's Girls' School, then at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (BA), and finally at the University of East Anglia (MA), where she was taught by Malcolm Bradbury and Rose Tremain.

She is the author of several books, including a collection of short stories, Gravity, and Ariel’s Gift: Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath, and the Story of Birthday Letters. Her latest work is the novel Seizure.

She is literary editor of The Times and lives in London with her husband, the writer Francis Gilbert, author of I’m a Teacher, Get Me Out of Here!, Teacher on the Run and Yob Nation. They have a son, Theodore. She also reviews regularly for The New York Times.