Hi, I’m Elena—a writer and editor both based in Brooklyn and from Brooklyn. I am also a Cuban-American. My first book, The Eternal Forest: A Memoir of the Cuban Diaspora is forthcoming from St. Martin’s Press.
My writing appears in numerous publications: Vogue, The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate, Catapult—and more. A few of my favorite things to write about include my literary obsessions, motherhood and women’s rights, television and film, narrative essays, profiles, interviews, and history. For more frequent writing from me, subscribe to my weekly newsletter Sunday Reads.
My literary agent is Alex Kane at WME or reach out to me directly at elena.sheppard@gmail.com.
Selected Writings
Some Favorites
The Week Before My Sons Were Born, I Lost My Smile The Cut
”I don’t imagine you’ll ever return to normal,” the neurologist said bluntly at the end of our visit. “And even if in the future you think you’re smiling, you’ll probably be doing this.” He scrunched up his face and made his eye blink rapidly.
Overlooked No More: Julia Tuttle ‘The Mother of Miami’ The New York Times
In the 1890s, the area where Biscayne Bay and the Miami River meet — today considered the heart of Downtown Miami — was desolate, swampy and isolated. But one of its few residents, Julia Tuttle, saw great potential for the land.
Banned In Her Home Country, Wendy Guerra Writes of a Lost Cuba The New York Times
Guerra calls Cuba “a floating ideal, a non-place”; “a country of no one.” But in a book where place and self are braided into one, there are fates far lonelier.
Hemingway ‘Wannabes’ Celebrate Author with Lookalike Contest The Guardian
Hemingway is survived as much by his macho mythology as he is by his writing. Hemingway was in two plane crashes in two days. Hemingway shot himself in both legs while wrangling a shark. Hemingway had at least nine major concussions — and four wives. He had brain damage. He won the Pulitzer and the Nobel prize. He hunted and fished and wrote plays and books and articles and stories, forever in pursuit of the truest sentence. He was rageful, charming, violent, brilliant, drunk.
ESSAYS
I Tried to Buy Self-Worth and All I Got Was Credit Card Debt, Catapult
The Pandemic Made Me Ready for Kids, Vogue
(Reluctant) Cat Mom, Shondaland
All the Places My Grandmother Has Lived, Shondaland
Opinions
‘Nyad’ Tells an Incredible Story, But for Any Cuban American It Brings Pain, CNN
Why I Changed My Mind About the U.S. Senate’s Relaxed Dress Code, CNN
An earnest plea to rethink realistically violent Halloween costumes, MSNBC
Castro Is Finally Gone. Biden Needs to Act., NBC
Pro-Trump Capitol Rioters Like the ‘QAnon Shaman’ Looked Ridiculous — By Design, NBC
Reviews
‘Poems of the Night’: by Jorge Luis Borges, The New York Times
Three Canadian Novels Test the Bonds — and Boundaries — of Family, The New York Times
Broadway’s Jagged Little Pill Courts Millennials, But Blunts Alanis Morissette’s Rage, NBC
Reanimating Frankenstein: On Jeanette Winterson’s Frankisstein, The Los Angeles Review of Books
Everything or nothing: Wendy Guerra’s Revolution Sunday, The Los Angeles Review of Books
Reporting
1 in 5 women are mistreated during maternal care. These women share their stories., Yahoo
From ‘Tribes’ to ‘Powwows’: Summer Camps Finally Reckon with Abuse of Indigenous Traditions, The Guardian
How a Group of Romance Writers Raised Almost Half a Million Dollars for Georgia’s Runoff Candidates, Vogue
Interviews
Like You, Sabrina Impacciatore Watches ‘The White Lotus’ Every Sunday, W Magazine
More Than Anyone Else, Anne Helen Petersen Knows You’re Burnt Out, W Magazine
The Hit Writer: Jami Attenberg Interviewed by Elena Sheppard, BOMB
On Camera
An interview on AOL’s BUILD with Elizabeth Smart about her autobiography and series about her life.
Speaking with LeAnn Rimes about her new film, "Logan Lucky.”
Actor, entrepreneur, designer and women's activist Sofia Vergara in conversation about EBY her lingerie line.
Newsletter
My newsletter, Sunday Reads, is a weekly dispatch filled with musings on motherhood, culture, success, writing, and women ~having it all~ delivered from my elder millennial perch. I also include bi-weekly interviews with women I admire. Subscribe here.
BOOK
Coming in 2025.
