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Eliza Griswold

エリザ・グリズワルド

Eliza Griswold

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1973-02-09
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Princeton, New Jersey (studies) → New York City (residence/work)

Career

Occupations
Journalist, Poet
Active Years
1995-
Affiliations
New America Foundation (fellow), Harvard Divinity School (Berggruen Fellow), New York University (Distinguished Writer in Residence), Nieman Fellow

Education

St. Paul's School (Concord, New Hampshire)
Country: United States
Secondary education (graduation year unknown)
Princeton University
Degree: Bachelor
Year of Graduation: 1995
Country: United States
Graduated 1995
Johns Hopkins University (studied creative writing)
Country: United States
Studied creative writing; degree information not specified

Awards

Pulitzer Prize (General Nonfiction)
2019
Work: Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America
Category: 一般ノンフィクション
Organization: The Pulitzer Prizes
Result: winner
Ridenhour Book Prize
2019
Work: Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America
Organization: The Ridenhour Prizes
Result: winner
Rome Prize
2010
Organization: American Academy of Arts and Letters (Rome Prize)
Result: winner
J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize
2011
Work: The Tenth Parallel: Dispatches from the Fault Line Between Christianity and Islam
Organization: Nieman Foundation / Columbia University
Result: winner
PEN Award for Poetry in Translation
2015
Work: I Am the Beggar of the World: Landays from Contemporary Afghanistan
Organization: PEN America
Result: winner
Guggenheim Fellowship
2012
Organization: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
Result: fellowship
Robert I. Friedman Prize in Investigative Journalism
2004
Work: In the Hiding Zone
Result: winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

A Night Full of Low Stars

1997 Poetry / Thesis

A collection of early poems produced as a thesis at Johns Hopkins University.

memorynature

Wideawake Field

2007 Poetry

A poetry collection published in 2007 featuring personal and observational poems.

personal historyobservation

The Tenth Parallel: Dispatches from the Fault Line Between Christianity and Islam

2010 Nonfiction / Reporting / Travelogue

A reporting travelogue that examines regions along the tenth parallel where Christianity and Islam meet and sometimes clash.

religionconflictculture

I Am the Beggar of the World: Landays from Contemporary Afghanistan

2014 Poetry (translation / anthology)

A translated anthology of Pashto landays—short, often political poems—bringing contemporary Afghan women's voices to English readers.

voices of the marginalizedwar and daily life

Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America

2018 Nonfiction / Investigative reporting

An investigative account tracing how fracking affected one family in Pennsylvania, exploring environmental and social consequences. Winner of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize.

environmental issuesrural communitycorporate responsibility

If Men, Then

2020 Poetry

A poetry collection published in 2020 including poems that appeared in The New Yorker and Granta.

individual and historypower and responsibility

Circle of Hope: Reckoning with Love, Power, and Justice in an American Church

2024 Nonfiction / Religion and social issues

An investigative and reflective account of an American church's history and collapse, examining love, power, and justice. Published 2024.

religion and politicscommunity collapse

Bibliography

  • A Night Full of Low Stars (1997)
  • Wideawake Field (2007)
  • The Tenth Parallel: Dispatches from the Fault Line Between Christianity and Islam (2010)
  • I Am the Beggar of the World: Landays from Contemporary Afghanistan (2014)
  • Amity and Prosperity: One Family and the Fracturing of America (2018)
  • If Men, Then (2020)
  • Circle of Hope: Reckoning with Love, Power, and Justice in an American Church (2024)

Translations by Author

  • I Am the Beggar of the World: translated and edited from Pashto

Style & Themes

Literary Style
immersive, reportage-driven nonfictionobservational and lyrical poetic voice
Recurring Motifs
tensions of religion and faithenvironmental and community harmgiving voice to the voiceless

Legacy

Eliza Griswold is acclaimed for both investigative reporting and poetry, winning international awards particularly for works on fracking and religious tensions. She is active in journalism education, including teaching at NYU.

Quotes

  • “He followed the story, no matter the personal cost.”
    Source: Interview / comment regarding Hayatullah Khan (as cited in reporting) (2006)

Trivia

  • Her father, Frank T. Griswold, served as the 25th Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church.
  • She is married to journalist and academic Steve Coll.
  • Won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction for Amity and Prosperity.
  • Known for translating Pashto landays into English.