Ellen Ficklen

At Johns Hopkins, Ellen Ficklen is a lecturer for the MA in Writing program.

Ficklen is a career writer and editor who has held a number of editorial positions in the Washington, D.C., area and has been widely published throughout the U.S. Among her specialties is writing about science and medicine in a clear, understandable language without diluting meaning. Ellen has produced editorial projects for the National Geographic Society, American Rivers, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and National Public Radio. Her articles have appeared in the Washington Post, the New York Times, USA Weekend, the Baltimore Sun, the Los Angeles Times, the Chronicle of Higher Education, Saveur, and Preservation.

Ellen was the author of a “My Turn” column in Newsweek and a finalist for a National Magazine Award. For eight years, she was the editor of “Narrative Matters,” the first-person essay section of Health Affairs, the nation’s leading health-policy journal, where she also was a senior editor. She is a co-editor of the book Narrative Matters: The Power of Personal Essay in Health Policy, published by Johns Hopkins University Press. Ellen also is the author of Watermelon, published by the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress (and because of which she became a much-quoted international watermelon expert). For more than 25 years she was a contributor to the food section of the Washington Post.

Ellen began her online teaching at the Creative Nonfiction Foundation, founded by Lee Gutkind, teaching the “Narrative Medicine” writing course. She has BA in English from Connecticut College and an MA in Writing from Johns Hopkins University.