Lisa Knopp
AUTHOR

Lisa Knopp

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Lisa Knopp is the author of eight books of creative nonfiction. Ravelings: Essays on Love, Loss, and Wonder, is forthcoming from the University of Nebraska Press in March of 2026. Subjects of some of the essays include: finding equilibrium in her professional life by observing the exquisitely balanced rock cairns created by a wildly unbalanced former admirer; being awakened to the common magic around her through two chance encounters with a magician in training; gaining humility and empowerment as an unpartnered, 60-year old woman in a ball room dance class filled with young couples; finding the key to momentarily slowing the passage of time while delighting in showers of confetti; exploring hunger and fullness through stories about different types of eating (ethical, disordered, mindful); comprehending her experiences with more nuance and precision through her investigations into words -- those we possess; those we’ve lost; those we need but don’t have; those she created to fill the gaps. Lisa's first five books are collections of essays about Midwestern nature and places. With her sixth book, Bread: A Memoir of Hunger (2016), she departed from nature and place-based writing to address the little-discussed phenomenon of eating disorders and disordered eating among older women. Through research and personal story, she explores the nature of hunger, desire, yearning, nourishment, sustenance, fulfillment, and contentment. Lisa's seventh book, From Your Friend, Carey Dean: Letters from Nebraska’s Death Row (2022), is a memoir/biography about her 23-year friendship with Carey Dean Moore, who’d murdered two Omaha cab drivers in 1979 and for which he was executed by lethal injection in 2018 Lisa’s essays have appeared in many of the best publications, including Shenandoah, Gettysburg Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, Missouri Review, Creative Nonfiction, Iowa Review, Prairie Schooner, Georgia Review, Brevity, and Seneca Review. Seven of her essays have received notable essay citations in the Best American Essays series. She is the recipient of two literature fellowships from the Nebraska Arts Council and numerous state, national, and international writing awards. Lisa was born and raised in Burlington, Iowa, a Mississippi River town. She was educated at Iowa Wesleyan College, Western Illinois University, and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Since 2005, she’s been a professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Omaha where she teaches courses in creative nonfiction. She’s a reiki practitioner, and she enjoys mentoring children through various organizations. Lisa has a grown son and daughter. She lives in Lincoln, Nebraska. To schedule a reading, book club visit, or interview, please contact her through her website or her University of Nebraska-Omaha email server.
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  • Bread cover art

    • Bread

    • A Memoir of Hunger
    • By: Lisa Knopp
    • Narrated by: Ginger White
    • Length: 9 hrs and 3 mins
    • Release date: 22-10-2025
    • Language: English
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  • What the River Carries cover art

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