About Lisa

Lisa Borders is the author of two novels, The Fifty-First State and Cloud Cuckoo Land, chosen by Pat Conroy as the winner of River City Publishing’s Fred Bonnie Award in 2002. Cloud Cuckoo Land received fiction honors in the 2003 Massachusetts Book Awards. Lisa’s short stories, essays and humor have appeared in The Rumpus, McSweeney’s, WBUR’s Cognoscenti, Post Road, Washington Square and other journals. She has received grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Somerville Arts Council and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and fellowships at the Millay Colony, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Hedgebrook and the Blue Mountain Center.

Lisa received a BA in Biology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and an MA in Creative Writing from Temple University in Philadelphia. She balances her scientific and creative sides with employment both as a cytotechnologist and as a writing instructor and manuscript consultant. Lisa taught for many years at Boston’s GrubStreet, where she founded the Novel Generator program and co-founded the Novel Incubator program. 

A passionate fan of indie and alternative rock, ‘70s and ‘80s pop culture and all things Gen X, Lisa grew up in New Jersey. She now lives in central Massachusetts with her partner and their two cats.