Elisabeth Parker

Hello, and welcome.
I’m Elisabeth Parker—freelance journalist, and creative writing teacher. My friends call me Bess.
I love true stories, intimate details, and far-fetched ideas. I’ve interviewed the famous, the infamous, and those who live in the shadows, sharing their stories in newspapers and magazines. For 12 years, I was a staff writer at the Tampa Bay Times, carving out time for the stories that mattered most to me—stories about people, their struggles, their resilience, and the conflicts that shape them.
Humans are complicated, and conflict is at the heart of every compelling story. The best stories, I believe, allow space for multiple truths—challenging the mind, stirring the emotions, and refusing to settle for easy answers.
I come from a nonfiction discipline, but fiction has always called to me. Nothing has ever stirred me more than a good book. For the past three years, I earned an MFA in creative writing from the University of South Florida, where I taught composition, research and creative writing.