Maribeth Fischer’s first novel, The Language of Goodbye, was awarded Virginia Commonwealth University’s First Novel Award for 2002. Fischer’s second novel, The Life You Longed For, chosen as an April 2007 BookSense Notable Book, as well as a alternate book selection the Literary Guild, was cited by The Library Journal as “a perfect book-group selection, comparable to Jane Hamilton’s A Map of the World or Jane Smiley’s A Thousand Acres.” Currently it has been released in five foreign countries.
Fischer’s literary essays have appeared in such journals as The Iowa Review and The Yale Review, and have twice been cited as notable in Robert Atwan’s Best American Essays. She has also received a Pushcart Prize for her essay Stillborn, as well as a Smart Family Prize for her essay Lottery, written after learning of her nephew Zachary’s diagnosis with mitochondrial disease.
Currently Fischer lives in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. In addition to founding the Rehoboth Beach Writers’ Guild and serving as executive director of the annual Writers At The Beach: Pure Sea Glass writing conference, Fischer teaches workshops in writing. She also speaks at medical conferences and to healthcare works about writing. She is currently at work on her third novel, which she is writing through three-minute writing prompts.