Meet the Author

Amy Goldmacher, Ph.D.

I probably look like I’ve got my sh*t together, but sometimes my “regular low hum” of anxiety gets very loud. So I write about it for people ​​like me – like you? – who may not realize that the harder we work to push through or ignore it doesn’t make it go away – it makes it worse.

I have learned that anxiety is a signal to be recognized, not a flaw to be eliminated. And what’s more, I believe we can learn to develop the “early warning systems” that prevent anxiety from becoming our kryptonite.

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Official Bio

Amy Goldmacher is an author, an anthropologist, and a coach, which means her career has centered around transforming information for good. 

A traditionally published nonfiction author and Author Accelerator certified nonfiction book coach, she has coached writers from book ideas to polished, pitch-ready proposals and manuscripts that get agents and book deals.

Amy’s creative work has appeared in The New York Times, Essay Daily, The Gravity of the Thing, Five Minute Lit, and elsewhere. She was the winner of the 2022 AWP Kurt Brown Prize in Creative Nonfiction, and her experimental glossary-form memoir, Terms & Conditions, will be published by Stanchion Books in Fall 2026. 

She has published on topics of anthropological work and careers; the most recent is the second edition of Designing An Anthropology Career: Professional Development Exercises from Rowman & Littlefield. She holds a B.A. in Anthropology with Honors from Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa, and an M.A. and Ph.D. in Anthropology from Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. 

Originally from New York State, Amy has lived in 23 cities and 3 other countries (for at least one month). She called Michigan home for 20 years and currently lives in South Florida. She loves to both travel with her husband and get cozy at home with her two pampered cats and stacks of books to be read.

Writing Awards & Recognitions

  • Finalist, Digging Press Chapbook Award, 2023

  • Longlisted, South Shore Review Flash Fiction Contest, 2023

  • Longlisted, Fish Flash Fiction Prize, 2023

  • Winner, AWP Kurt Brown Prize for Creative Nonfiction, judged by Reyna Grande, 2022

  • Finalist, WOW! Women on Writing Fall Flash Fiction Contest, 2022

  • Finalist, Orison Chapbook Prize, 2022

  • Finalist, Essay Press Chapbook Reading Period, 2022

  • Semi-finalist, Mason Jar Press 1729 Prize in Prose, 2022

  • Semi-finalist, Harbor Editions Hybrid Chapbook Reading Period, 2022

  • Longlisted, Invisible City Lit’s Creative Nonfiction Flash Contest, 2021

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Anthologies

Guest Essays, Reviews, & Interviews

Micros

Media Appearances

Selected Anthropology Works

Literary Citizenship

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