Elena Waldman, Author Page

Elena was born, bred, and still resides in Queens NY. (Explains her loyalty to the Mets.)  Her YA fiction - both short stories and long-form - reference many of her personal experiences as a Karate practitioner and teacher, as an addict in, (and before,) recovery, as a child of her mom, and as a city kid. 

She is also influenced by her many years teaching free self defense to women, children, the LGBQ community, people of trans* experience, sex workers, undocumented people, and survivors of sexual trauma.  Her work with the homeless, active addicts, and in needle exchange have helped her maintain connections to worlds she thought she left behind.

She has read in various venues around New York City, including KGB Bar and Nuyorican Poets Café.  She co-taught writing workshops with Monique Lewis and Janie Lewicki for fiction writers in NYC.

Her first book, Little on the 7, is currently in final editing.  Little follows Little Man Zinn, a scrappy chica from Queens, New York. Abused by her mom and confused by life, we travel with her through shenanigans, addiction, recovery, relapse (repeat,) love, heartbreak, best friends, emergency rooms, death vigils, and the NYC subway system. With Karate, 12-step, and the love of a good woman, she learns that life may not get better, but she can.