Other Writing

Journalism, Essays, & More

Elizabeth Chiles Shelburne’s nonfiction work has been published in The Atlantic Monthly, Boston Globe, Boston Magazine, and GlobalPost, among others.

Her essay, “Killing In The Name Of…,” about how deer hunting made her a feminist, was published in Click!: How We Knew We Were Feminists, edited by J. Courtney Sullivan and Courtney E. Martin. She is a graduate of Grub Street’s MFA-level Novel Incubator program, under Michelle Hoover and Lisa Borders, where Holding On To Nothing was workshopped. Her short fiction has been long-listed for the Manchester Fiction Prize and was a finalist for the Rash Award at the Broad River Review, where her story, “Any Other Kind” appears in the spring 2019 issue.

Book Reviews & Excerpts

Holding On To Nothing Excerpt | LitSnap (April 2019)

Elizabeth reads a four minute excerpt from her debut novel, Holding On To Nothing.

That Kind of Mother | Amherst Magazine (Summer 2016)

Parenting is hard. Most parenting books make it harder. This one will make you feel less alone.

Journalism

The Scourge of TB | The Atlantic Monthly (January/February 2010 Issue)

In South Africa, good intentions and poor follow-through are helping to spread deadly drug-resistant tuberculosis.

The Sizanani Effect | Amherst Magazine (Winter 2010)

An Amherst alum with summer camp in his blood brings the concept to kids from the worst parts of South Africa.

The Next Breadbasket? | The Atlantic Monthly (September 2009 Issue)

How Africa could save the world—and itself.

The Deadly New Tuberculosis | GlobalPost/PRI (January 2009)

A three-part series on drug-resistant tuberculosis in South Africa.

Obama-Man | The Atlantic Monthly (November 2008 Issue)

Is the new American president Africa’s long-awaited superhero?

The Great Disruption | The Atlantic Monthly (September 2008 Issue)

How scarcity, affluence, and biofuel production are wreaking havoc on food prices.

The Dirtiest Game | Amherst Magazine (Fall 2007)

Giving up the good life for politics is a tough choice. Doing it in one of the most corrupt nations on earth is a different matter altogether. Why is Edwin Macharia ’01 risking his life to take on the Kenyan political system?

The Father of Palestine | The Atlantic Monthly (September 2005 Issue)

David Samuels, the author of “In a Ruined Country,” on how Yasir Arafat conned the world and destroyed a nation.

Iraq’s Walled City | The Atlantic Monthly (October 2004 Issue)

William Langewiesche, the author of “The Green Zone,” on the dangerous and ever-increasing isolation of the American presence in Baghdad.

Arnoldus Pontifex? | The Atlantic Monthly (October 2004 Issue)

Paddy Power, an Irish bookmaker, is risking the ire of the Catholic Church by offering wagers on the next Pope.

A Tragedy of Errors | The Atlantic Monthly (September 2004 Issue)

James Fallows, the author of “Bush’s Lost Year,” describes the road to Iraq as a case study in “failed decision-making.”

Councils of War | The Atlantic Monthly (August 2004 Issue)

“Anonymous,” the CIA insider who wrote Imperial Hubris, argues that we must annihilate our Muslim enemies, while heeding their point of view.

Where Did He Go Wrong? | The Atlantic Monthly (June 2004)

Geoffrey Wheatcroft, the author of The Tragedy of Tony Blair, examines the British Prime Minister’s dramatic downward spiral.

Inside the Dean Campaign | The Atlantic Monthly (May 2004)

Howard Dean’s political pollster talks about the campaign’s extraordinary rise and crashing fall.

The Thoughtful Soldier | The Atlantic Monthly (December 2003)

Douglas Brinkley, the author of Tour of Duty, on John Kerry’s conflicted but heroic service in Vietnam.

Man on the Street | The Atlantic Monthly (December 2003)

P. J. O’Rourke on Iraq, Michael Kelly, and taking a country’s measure by just “hanging out.”

The Hard Edge of American Values | The Atlantic Monthly (July 2003)

Robert D. Kaplan on how the United States projects power around the world—and why it must.

Essays

“Dolly Parton Is An Actual Angel” | Paste Magazine (October 15, 2019) 

I believe Dolly Parton is an actual angel, and Paste Magazine let me write about why. (Seriously, y’all, she’s a national treasure.)

“Baby vs. Book” | Dead Darlings, October 9, 2019

Do I actually want another baby? Or am I just so full of fear over the prospective publication of my debut novel that I want the purity of focus that caring for a newborn affords?

“Steel Magnolias, Forever and Ever Amen.” | Style Blueprint (September 2019)

An essay on Steel Magnolias, mothers and daughters, and Southern women.

“Killing In The Name Of…” | Click: When We Knew We Were Feminists (April 2010)

An essay on how deer hunting made Elizabeth a feminist, published in Click: When We Knew We Were Feminists, edited by J. Courtney Sullivan and Courtney E. Martin.

Blog Posts

Loveys of ProcrastinationDead Darlings (August 2017)

Back when my children were babies, they got to an age where people suggested a “lovey,” a transitional object, meant to give the little guys something to snuggle with that isn’t my husband, me, or more accurately, my boobs.

Birthing Babies, Birthing BooksDead Darlings (February 2015)

Once again, I find myself gestating two babies: my book and an actual human child, currently two weeks out from D-Day. This happened two years ago too, smack in the middle of the Novel Incubator.

The Perfect Murder: Killing AliceDead Darlings (May 2014)

Shh. Please be quiet. I am killing someone right now and I need to concentrate. This is most definitely pre-meditated – I’ve been thinking about it for weeks. I love her, I really do, but I can’t be around her anymore.

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