Testimonials

Erika’s ability to assist others with their writing–and to discuss her own–has earned her praise from many quarters. (For assessments of her work with The Practicing Writer newsletter in particular, please check this page.)

“Erika Dreifus has such a wide and diverse range of knowledge about literature and publishing today. Author, editor, liaison, publicist, literary advocate with connections to resources in New York and beyond: as a speaker and educator she has an incredible amount of information to offer—much of it gained firsthand. The end result of having Erika speak to my internship class of aspiring writers and publishing professionals was that every student came away with questions answered and new perspective gained. I learned some new things myself. . . . Thank you, Erika!”
–Evelyn Somers Rogers, Associate Editor, The Missouri Review

“Erika is the good-willed godmother of the Jewish books community. I can’t begin to do justice to the myriad of ways in which I have benefited, tangibly, from the advocacy and resource-building work she does. Her skillset is broad, as is necessary, and her energy and metabolism for taking on new projects while displaying superb literary citizenship is astounding. As a young writer, I am quite grateful to her and can recommend her as a role model. As someone who has participated in programming she’s had a hand in, it’s easy to recommend her as a professional to anyone who wants things executed thoroughly, thoughtfully, and with genuine excitement.”
–No’a bat Miri

“Erika Dreifus’s visit to our advanced seminar, ‘Representations of the Holocaust,’ was both inspiring and approachable. Students were completely engaged by her stories and loved having the opportunity to listen to the author talk about what went into creating them; being able to question the author was also a very special experience for them and one they clearly valued. Throughout the remainder of the semester, students regularly returned to Erika’s stories and presentation as a way to work through ideas presented by other authors and other texts, including those by Jan Gross, Cynthia Ozick, Nathan Englander, and Art Spiegelman. What drew the students so passionately to Erika’s work was the sense of connection they derived from her perspective, that of a young contemporary writer reflecting on the world of her parents and grandparents, a rich world dramatically different from her own. Hosting Erika in our class enriched not only that single day, but the whole semester; I highly recommend inviting Erika to join other seminar discussions or lecture presentations.”
–Jessica Lang, Associate Professor, Baruch College, CUNY, Director of the Jewish Studies Center, Baruch College.

“I’ve worked with Erika…on various assignments for The Writer—book reviews, short pieces, features, you name it. She’s a versatile writer who keeps in mind both the magazine’s style and tone and our readers’ needs. In addition to being on top of industry news and trends, Erika consistently turns in thoughtful, clean copy, which makes my job that much easier. She also shares job and market leads with other writers in her Practicing Writing newsletter and blog. Before everyone was talking about how important it is to play an active role in the literary community, Erika was doing just that. I always look forward to working with Erika, and I would highly recommend her as a top-notch freelance writer.”
–Sarah C. Lange, Associate Editor, The Writer

“Erika has served as an advisor to students in the MFA Program in Creative Writing at Lesley University, which I direct. A gifted fiction writer, teacher, and scholar, Erika brought all of these attributes to her work. She also brought great passion for literary writing, and an intuitive feel for what students needed and wanted. I highly recommend Erika.”
–Steven Cramer, Director, Lesley University MFA Program in Creative Writing

“Erika taught a one-day seminar for us called ‘Writing What We Know, for Love and Money.’ It was one of our most popular seminars ever…Some quotes from student evaluation forms:

  • “Great class!”
  • “Erika was energetic, engaging, and had a lot of personal experience to share.”
  • “excellent handout”
  • “would love to take a class on craft of writing from Erika””

–Rachel Unkefer, President, WriterHouse (Charlottesville, Va.)

Please contact Erika regarding ways she may assist your program or publication.