Meredith Steinbach is the author of four books of fiction, including three novels: ZARA, HERE LIES THE WATER, THE BIRTH OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT; OR, TEIRESIAS, and a collection of stories, RELIABLE LIGHT. Ms. Steinbach is Professor of English at Brown University.

For her short fiction, Steinbach has received an O. Henry Award, a Pushcart Prize, citation in 100 Distinguished Stories, Best American Short Stories. Publishers' Weekly hails her most recent novel, THE BIRTH OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT; OR, TEIRESIAS, as "a metaphysical tour de force." Boston Magazine says, "She is like Joyce, mingling an ironic undertone with sensuous descriptions of vintage cosmetics, sexual sporting, war, and grief." According to The Harvard Review, " Steinbach seems to be following no other voice than her own; the result is a shamanistic meditation on the telling of time, the telling of history."

Steinbach's short stories and novellas, as well as excerpts from her novels, have appeared in numerous literary magazines, including Antaeus, TriQuarterly Magazine, Southwest Review, Antioch Review, Massachusetts Review, 13th Moon, Tyuonyi (Institute of Native American Arts), Black Warrior Review, Ploughshares, etc.

A travel grant from the Thomas J. Watson Institute for International Study allowed for research in France and Greece from December 1992 to July 1994. She has been the recipient of fellowships from the Yaddo Corporation, the Rhode Island State Literary Award for Excellence, and a year long residency as a Bunting Fellow at Harvard-Radcliffe. She received a Creative Writing Fellowship in Fiction from the National Endowment for the Arts. The Rhode Island State Council on the Arts helped to fund the writing and performance of a play (IN THE REALM OF WHICH THERE IS NO SIGN), 1992, 1994.

Ms. Steinbach taught at the University of Iowa, Antioch College, Northwestern University, and the University of Washington, and was a fellow at Harvard-Radcliffe. before coming to Brown University. She was raised in a small, lake-side town in Iowa and spends part of each year in France writing. Ms. Steinbach gives occasional readings of her works for charitable foundations and at universities, bookstores, and libraries. She is a member of P.E.N., A.W.P., and Amnesty International.

Her biography appears in Contemporary Authors, International Who's Who of Authors and Writers, World Who's Who of Women, and Dictionary of International Biography.