Emily James is a New York City based writer, editor, and educator. She has written for The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, The NY Daily News, and has several essays published in various renowned literary magazines.
She is one of the founding editors of Porcupine Literary, a magazine that focuses on teachers and teaching.
She is the 2019 winner of the Bechtel Prize awarded by Teachers and Writers Collaborative for her story, "At First, The Ground Shakes." Her story, “Sangre,” was awarded an honorable mention by Alexander Chee in the 2018 Flash Contest from Pigeon Pages.
In May of 2017, Emily wrote a petition on Change.org fighting for paid maternity leave for New York City teachers. The petition went viral --gathering almost 85,000 signatures--and eventually led to the city of New York granting the Department of Education six weeks of paid parental leave in June of 2018.
She holds a BA in Journalism from New York University, an MA in Education from Columbia Teachers College, and is currently an MFA candidate at the City College of New York.