Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson is the author of the critically-acclaimed book Claire McCardell: The Designer Who Set Women Free, which came out in June of 2025 from Simon & Schuster. Her first book has been longlisted for the 2026 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, named a best book of 2025 from Time magazine, selected as a New York Times Editors’ Choice, an Amazon Editor’s pick for Best History, an NPR Book of the Day, and a must-read featured in Oprah Daily, The Atlantic, Elle, Forbes, Harper's Bazaar, and on All Things Considered, among many others. The book has been hailed as an exceptional biography and an essential read that “puts the American fashion icon Claire McCardell back in the pantheon,” according to The New York Times Book Review.

Elizabeth’s writing career encompasses cultural criticism, narrative nonfiction, investigative journalism, short fiction, and memoir. She’s been widely published in places like The New Yorker, The New York Times, Harper’s, The Washington Post Magazine, and The Southern Review, among others. She’s working on her second book, about the famous Ruby Slippers from “The Wizard of Oz,” due out from Dutton in 2027.

Her nonfiction earned recognition in The Best American Essays anthology and she’s a two-time recipient of the Independent Artist Award from The Maryland State Arts Council. She’s been a National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellow and in 2023, Elizabeth became the first literary artist to win Maryland’s prestigious Mary Sawyers Imboden Prize, given in recognition of artists who demonstrate excellence in mastery of craft, depth of artistic exploration, and unique vision.

Elizabeth’s writing has been supported by the Vermont Studio Center, VCCA, and Ragdale, and through grants from the Sustainable Arts Foundation, the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, and the Money for Women/Barbara Deming Memorial Fund to name a few. Elizabeth teaches graduate level writing, and she’s the Editorial Director at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore where she lives with her family and a very opinionated corgi named Buddy.