Born in Chicago to a family of readers and writers, Nancy Novick was drawn to fiction from a very early age. Her first published short story appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and won the 2019 Robert L. Fish Award from the Mystery Writers of America for the best American short story by a previously unpublished writer. After earning her B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and her M.A. from Columbia University — both in English literature — Novick became a medical writer.