BIOGRAPHY

Maribeth Fischer's literary essays have appeared in such journals as The Iowa Review and The Yale Review, and have twice been cited as notable in Robert Atwan's Best American Essays. She has also received a Pushcart Prize for her essay Stillborn, as well as a Smart Family Prize for her essay Lottery.

Fisher's first novel, The Language of Goodbye, was awarded Virginia Commonwealth University's First Novel Award for 2002. Fischer’s second novel, The Life You Longed For, which was cited by The Library Journal as “a perfect book-group selection (dare we mention Oprah?), comparable to Jane Hamilton's A Map of the World or Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres” has already sold in five foreign countries.

Fischer taught fiction and creative nonfiction at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County from 1991 – 2000. From 2002-2004, she served as Visiting Writer in the graduate MFA program at Virginia Commonwealth University, where in addition to teaching fiction and nonfiction, she acted as a theses director.  She has also taught writing to healthcare professionals and to caretakers and parents of children with disabilities.

Currently, Fischer lives in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. In addition to founding the Rehoboth Beach Writers’ Guild and serving as executive director of the annual Writers At The Beach: Pure Sea Glass writing conference, Fischer teaches workshops in writing. She is currently at work on her third novel.