Erica Johnson Debeljak

lives in Ljubljana, Slovenia with her husband Aleš and their three children. Born in San Francisco in 1961, she moved to New York City where she attended college and graduate school before pursuing a career in international finance. In 1991, she fell in love with Aleš Debeljak, quit her job and left New York to make a new life in a new country.  Unable to pursue her financial career in Slovenia where bureaucratic hurdles blocked the way, she learned the language, became a Slovenian/English translator, and eventually began to work as a writer and columnist. Her essays and stories have recently appeared in US News and World Report, Glimmer Train (winner of 2007 Family Matters Award), Prairie Schooner, The Missouri Review, Nimrod, Epoch, Common Knowledge, and Eurozine. Her work has been translated into Italian, German, Hungarian, Bosnian, and Slovakian. She received an MFA in creative writing from the University of New Orleans and has published three books in Slovenian, including Foreigner in the House of Natives.
Contact: info(at)ericajohnsondebeljak.com