ELIZABETH BENEDICT is a novelist, journalist, editor, educator, and writing coach. She has published five acclaimed novels, including Almost, a national bestseller, and Slow Dancing, a National Book Award finalist. She also authored the classic book on writing about sex in fiction, The Joy of Writing Sex, which has been in print for 25 years. Benedict has written reviews and articles for Nouvèl Èdikay, The Boston Globe, Esquir, Byen senp, ak Daedalus. She has also regularly contributed to Japanese Playboy, HuffPost, ak Salmagundi. She conceived of and edited three prominent anthologies, including What My Mother Gave Me: 31 Women on the Gifts That Mattered Most, yon New York Times bestseller; Mentors, Muses & Monsters: 30 Writers on the People Who Changed Their Lives; ak Me, My Hair, and I: 27 Women Untangle an Obsession. Benedict is a member of the fiction faculty at the New York State Summer Writers Institute.