Kirkley Elizabeth

"God made man because He loves stories." - Elie Wiesel, The Gates of the Forest

Welcome!

My name is Kirkley Elizabeth, and I’m a published writer of fiction and creative non-fiction. My latest projects are a middle-grade historical adventure novel with fantastical elements, and a memoir.

The seed of my debut novel was planted when my husband I and were sitting in Sabrina’s Cafe in Callowhill, Philadelphia one autumn.  It was Thanksgiving weekend, and we somehow got onto the topic of unique Thanksgiving traditions in our great country.  Out of one of those traditions, the idea for my debut middle grade novel was born. The book touches on themes of democracy vs. authoritarianism, the power that one individual has to shape the course of history, and the power of imagination to create reality. Each of the images below reflects a hint about this novel featuring animal life, alternate American history, and magic. I am currently seeking representation for this novel.

My memoir, another completed manuscript at 80,000 words, centers on my family, my coming of age, and my travels throughout China, where I lived for two and a half years.

  • Benjamin Franklin and George Washington, two of the most renowned Founding Fathers.
  • Meleagris Gallopavo: The Wild Turkey with her little poults (female turkeys) and jakes (male turkeys) (photo courtesy of the Boston Globe).
  • A flock of wild turkeys marching down my street in Boston, MA!
email: kirkleyiskirkley@gmail.com

You’re an aspiring, emerging, or even established writer looking to level up your writing game. You have written a substantial portion of a fiction or creative nonfiction project such as a novel or memoir–or possibly even an entire draft, or you’re in the planning stages of a large writing project. But you need to know sooner rather than later whether or not your writing project is any good, and target areas for improvement in your story as quickly as possible.

August 28, 2020

Getting not just feedback, but the right feedback, is essential to taking your writing to the next level and getting your novel or memoir noticed by agents.   But hiring a professional developmental editor (to assess your story’s strengths, as opposed to a line edit, which looks at grammar and sentence-level revision), while useful, can cost … More You’re an aspiring, emerging, or even established writer looking to level up your writing game. You have written a substantial portion of a fiction or creative nonfiction project such as a novel or memoir–or possibly even an entire draft, or you’re in the planning stages of a large writing project. But you need to know sooner rather than later whether or not your writing project is any good, and target areas for improvement in your story as quickly as possible.