Susan Hertog

Susan Hertog was born in New York City and graduated from Hunter College. After earning her MFA from Columbia University, she became a freelance journalist and photographer. She is the author of one previous book, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Her Life. She lives in Manhattan with her family. As a way of giving back and helping other writers, Hertog initiated a Columbia University program that she currently funds together with her husband, Roger. It includes a seminar in research methods, required of all nonfiction students, and support for 12 fellows, who spend 10 hours a week working as research assistants to established writers, including Ron Chernow, Neal Gabler, Ada Louise Huxtable, Erica Jong, Geoffrey O'Brien, and Francine Prose. The graduate students receive mentoring, creative consultations on their own work, and an understanding of the process of the writer's life. "The mentor gets the opportunity to bring another writer along, to educate and teach him/her the tools of the trade-and gets free assistance," Hertog said.