Erika Swyler

Erika Swyler’s Followers (916)

member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
member photo
Melissa
1,686 books | 109 friends

Dan
Dan
1,375 books | 399 friends

Krista ...
2,400 books | 63 friends

Ericka ...
3,015 books | 317 friends

Desisla...
241 books | 85 friends

Elizabeth
286 books | 39 friends

Audrey
1,301 books | 25 friends

Kevin C...
982 books | 227 friends

More friends…

Erika Swyler

Goodreads Author


Born
The United States
Website

Twitter

Genre

Member Since
August 2008

URL


Erika Swyler is the bestselling author of Light From Other Stars, and The Book of Speculation. Her essays and short fiction have appeared in Catapult, Literary Hub, VIDA, The New York Times, and elsewhere.

Erika lives on Long Island, NY, with her husband and a petulant rabbit. She writes, bakes, is a casual runner, and has very strong feelings about typewriters.

To ask Erika Swyler questions, please sign up.

Popular Answered Questions

Erika Swyler Thank you so much! That's very kind.

I am in fact working on a book right now (probably three, if I'm honest with myself). I'm a slow writer in that I …more
Thank you so much! That's very kind.

I am in fact working on a book right now (probably three, if I'm honest with myself). I'm a slow writer in that I need to grow along with a book as I write, so I don't yet have a firm idea of a new book will appear.

I'll also say that I have done relatively little writing during the pandemic, as it seemed that most of my focus should be on taking in world events, being safe, and trying to help where I can. It's changing the way I view the world, certainly, which is inevitably good for whatever work does come from this period.

But yes, a book will eventually appear! And thank you again for the very kind words.(less)
Erika Swyler Thank you so much!
I don't have a Patreon (I feel a little odd about people paying to read my writing that hasn't been through a more traditional edito…more
Thank you so much!
I don't have a Patreon (I feel a little odd about people paying to read my writing that hasn't been through a more traditional editorial process). I do, however, have a newsletter which is free, and I typically only update when I have actual news or there's something I *must* write about immediately.
https://tinyletter.com/erikaswyler
Thanks again!(less)
Average rating: 3.62 · 44,713 ratings · 6,749 reviews · 5 distinct worksSimilar authors
The Book of Speculation

3.61 avg rating — 38,898 ratings — published 2015 — 56 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
Light from Other Stars

3.81 avg rating — 3,843 ratings — published 2019 — 12 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
The Mermaid Girl: A Story

3.60 avg rating — 965 ratings — published 2016 — 5 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
We Lived on the Horizon

3.63 avg rating — 906 ratings — published 2025 — 6 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
Colonial Comics: New Englan...

by
3.56 avg rating — 105 ratings — published 2014 — 3 editions
Rate this book
Clear rating
More books by Erika Swyler…

*rising from beneath a dust-covered couch cushion*

Revealing We Lived on the Horizon, a Novel by Erika Swyler - Reactor*rising from beneath a...
2 likes ·   •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on July 10, 2024 07:34

Related News

Looking for something epic, stellar, or far out? Perhaps a bit dystopian? Then these authors are your chosen ones to read next! We asked...
82 likes · 10 comments
With circus mermaids, traveling tarot readers, and a bona fide family curse, her debut novel, The Book of Speculation, blends carnival history and...
23 likes · 14 comments

Erika’s Recent Updates

Erika Swyler wrote a new blog post

*rising from beneath a dust-covered couch cushion*

Revealing We Lived on the Horizon, a Novel by Erika Swyler - Reactor*rising from beneath a...
More of Erika's books…
Quotes by Erika Swyler  (?)
Quotes are added by the Goodreads community and are not verified by Goodreads. (Learn more)

“Once you’ve held a book and really loved it, you forever remember the feel of it, its specific weight, the way it sits in your hand.”
Erika Swyler, The Book of Speculation

“Perhaps the book opened a door; books have a way of causing ripples.”
Erika Swyler, The Book of Speculation

“Having all the time in the world makes getting things done impossible.”
Erika Swyler, The Book of Speculation

Polls

123212
Vote for one book for September 2015

The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing by Mira Jacob by Mira JacobSpanning India in the 70s to New Mexico in the 80s to Seattle in the 90s, The Sleepwalker's Guide to Dancing is a winning, irreverent debut novel about a family wrestling with its future and its past.
 
  3 votes 20.0%

The Underground Girls of Kabul: In Search of a Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan The Underground Girls of Kabul In Search of a Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan by Jenny Nordberg Jenny NordbergAn investigative journalist uncovers a hidden custom that will transform your understanding of what it means to grow up as a girl
in Afghanistan
 
  3 votes 20.0%

American Wife American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld by Curtis SittenfeldIn Alice Blackwell, New York Times bestselling author Curtis Sittenfeld has created her most dynamic and complex heroine yet. American Wife is a gorgeously written novel that weaves class, wealth, race, and the exigencies of fate into a brilliant tapestry–a novel in which the unexpected becomes inevitable, and the pleasures and pain of intimacy and love are laid bare.
 
  2 votes 13.3%

Circling the Sun Circling the Sun by Paula McLain by Paula McLainPaula McLain, author of the phenomenal bestseller The Paris Wife, now returns with her keenly anticipated new novel, transporting readers to colonial Kenya in the 1920s. Circling the Sun brings to life a fearless and captivating woman—Beryl Markham, a record-setting aviator caught up in a passionate love triangle with safari hunter Denys Finch Hatton and Karen Blixen, who as Isak Dinesen wrote the classic memoir Out of Africa.
 
  1 vote 6.7%

Eight Hundred Grapes Eight Hundred Grapes by Laura Dave by Laura DaveGrowing up on her family’s Sonoma vineyard, Georgia Ford learned some important secrets. The secret number of grapes it takes to make a bottle of wine: eight hundred. The secret ingredient in her mother’s lasagna: chocolate. The secret behind ending a fight: hold hands.
 
  1 vote 6.7%

Lila Lila (Gilead, #3) by Marilynne Robinson by Marilynne RobinsonLila, homeless and alone after years of roaming the countryside, steps inside a small-town Iowa church—the only available shelter from the rain—and ignites a romance and a debate that will reshape her life. She becomes the wife of a minister, John Ames, and begins a new existence while trying to make sense of the days of suffering that preceded her newfound security.
 
  1 vote 6.7%

The Book of Speculation The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler by Erika SwylerA sweeping and captivating debut novel about a young librarian who is sent a mysterious old book, inscribed with his grandmother's name. What is the book's connection to his family?
 
  1 vote 6.7%

The Marriage of Opposites The Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman by Alice HoffmanFrom the New York Times bestselling author of The Dovekeepers and The Museum of Extraordinary Things: a forbidden love story set on the tropical island of St. Thomas about the extraordinary woman who gave birth to painter Camille Pissarro; the Father of Impressionism.
 
  1 vote 6.7%

The Year of Necessary Lies The Year of Necessary Lies by Kris Radish by Kris RadishOne amazing year in a remarkable woman¹s life journey becomes the inspiration for generations when she takes a huge risk, follows her heart, embraces forbidden love, and unwittingly becomes the champion of a winged world that is on the brink of extinction.
 
  1 vote 6.7%

Tibetan Peach Pie: A True Account of an Imaginative Life Tibetan Peach Pie A True Account of an Imaginative Life by Tom Robbins by Tom RobbinsIn Tibetan Peach Pie, Robbins turns that unparalleled literary sensibility inward, weaving together stories of his unconventional life–from his Appalachian childhood to his globe-trotting adventures–told in his unique voice, which combines the sweet and sly, the spiritual and earthy. The grandchild of Baptist preachers, Robbins would become, over the course of half a century, a poet interruptus, a soldier, a meteorologist, a radio DJ, an art-critic-turned-psychedelic-journeyman, a world-famous novelist, and a counterculture hero, leading a life as unlikely, magical, and bizarre as those of his quixotic characters
 
  1 vote 6.7%

Any Human Heart Any Human Heart by William Boyd by William BoydLogan Gonzago Mountstuart, writer, was born in 1906, and died of a heart attack on October 5, 1991, aged 85. William Boyd's novel Any Human Heart is his disjointed autobiography, a massive tome chronicling "my personal rollercoaster"--or rather, "not so much a rollercoaster", but a yo-yo, "a jerking spinning toy in the hands of a maladroit child." From his early childhood in Montevideo, son of an English corned beef executive and his Uraguayan secretary, through his years at a Norfolk public school and Oxford, Mountstuart traces his haphazard development as a writer. Early and easy success is succeeded by a long half-century of mediocrity, disappointments and setbacks, both personal and professional, leading him to multiple failed marriages, internment, alcoholism and abject poverty.
 
  0 votes 0.0%

Kitchens of the Great Midwest Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal by J. Ryan StradalKitchens of the Great Midwest, about a young woman with a once-in-a-generation palate who becomes the iconic chef behind the country’s most coveted dinner reservation, is the summer’s most hotly-anticipated debut.
 
  0 votes 0.0%

The Ambassador's Wife The Ambassador's Wife by Jennifer Steil by Jennifer SteilFrom a real-life ambassador's wife comes a harrowing novel about the kidnapping of an American woman in the Middle East and the heartbreaking choices she and her husband each must make in the hope of being reunited.
 
  0 votes 0.0%

15 total votes
More...

Topics Mentioning This Author

topics posts views last activity  
The Seasonal Read...: This topic has been closed to new comments. Spring 2015 Completed Tasks - DO NOT DELETE POSTS 3347 574 May 31, 2015 08:59PM  
2026 Reading Chal...: Ilona's 2015 Reading Challenge 10 69 Jul 04, 2015 04:40AM  
The Lost Challenges: Junk Food Day Challenge: 31 flavors 113 304 Jul 16, 2015 12:53PM  
No comments have been added yet.