Elizabeth Austin has always been fascinated by how we discover, tell, interpret, and use the story of our past.  She studied British history as an undergraduate at the University of California and as an exchange student at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

When Austin continued her formal education in history with a master’s degree from California State University, Sacramento, she shifted her emphasis to public history and had the opportunity to turn her thesis into a book published by the University of California, Berkeley, Public Policy Press.  Now in its second edition, that first book convinced her that she wanted to research and write history that was both based on meticulous research and compelling to read.

Elizabeth Austin supplemented her background in academic history with workshops in creative nonfiction that were the genesis of her imaginative approach to telling a true story.

When not researching or writing, Austin likes to travel to new places with her husband and usually explores them on foot.  Whether hiking the highlands of Scotland or the trails of Pt. Reyes National Park, she prefers to immerse herself in the unique nature of each place that moving slowly by foot allows.  Elizabeth also competes in dressage with her horse and takes long walks with her dog.  She and her husband live in Sacramento, California, and have two sons and three grandsons.