Elizabeth Berg

A literary follow-your-heart poster girl, Elizabeth Berg worked as a nurse for a decade, pulling bedpan duty while inventing imaginary worlds in her mind. Such mundane jobs are a boon to writers, of course; if nothing else, they liven up a resume. Berg surely witnessed a thousand dramas and characters in her job, some of which no doubt provided fuel (not to mention fodder) for her many bestselling novels, whose subject matter tends toward the painful and domestic. We Are All Welcome Here is her latest, based on the true story of a paraplegic polio victim raising her daughter amid the social upheavals–both race- and Elvis-related–that besieged Tupelo, Mississippi, in 1964. 2020 Lake of the Isles Pkwy. W., Minneapolis; 612-374-4023; www.birchbarkbooks.com