About

Elizabeth McNeill is a writer and editor who finds half-told stories and imagines a way into their silences. With her knack for archival work, she excavates the lives of humans and nonhumans whose contributions to knowledge threatened the established order. 

 

Elizabeth holds a Ph.D. in Germanic Languages and Literatures from the University of Michigan, where she wrote a dissertation on the delightfully wacky pseudoscientific history of animal psychology. When not rewriting her dissertation as nonhuman-centered short stories, she can be found in her local archives. She is currently working on a project spotlighting controversial, yet forgotten female figures in Ithaca, New York's history. (The Midwest has her heart, but she's still working through the years she spent living next to those creepy killer gorges).

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Elizabeth serves the Midwestern literary community as a Daily Editor at the Chicago Review of Books, working with writers across the country to cover contemporary books. In this capacity, she also runs the feature series "Checking out Historical Chicago." She has interviewed some of the city's biggest literary names in examining how they bring historical Chicago to life on the page. 

 

Elizabeth loves reviewing fantastic books by small presses and Midwestern voices so that they can find their readers. Feel free to explore her reviews, interviews, and features, and contact her with any review requests.