About the Author
Ellen Gardner Gelerman grew up on Long Island, New York, and spent much of her adult life there. She received her BA in English in 1980 from Indiana University, Bloomington, leading to a lifelong love of English literature as well as a copywriting career in advertising and promotion. Beginning at Grey Advertising in Manhattan, and moving on to Newsday (Melville, NY) and Cablevision (Bethpage, NY), Ellen wrote television, radio, and print advertising copy as well as brochures and marketing scripts.
Though Ellen is retired from her formal career, writing is still her passion. A short story of hers appeared in The Road to Pemberley: An Anthology of New Pride and Prejudice Stories (Ulysses Press, 2011). Her debut novel, The Book of Hannah: A Tragicomedy in Three Trimesters (2019), won the 2021 NYC Big Book Award in the Chick-Lit category. Her second novel, The Hand of Miriam, was released in 2023. Hannah and Her Daughters, the sequel to The Book of Hannah, was published in 2024. In September 2025, she released her fourth novel, The Librarian’s Son.
Ellen and her husband, Roy, who have two adult children, currently live in Michigan with their dogs. Ellen teaches Zumba for the fun of it and volunteers as a political activist because the times demand it.
Ellen Gelerman 