The daugh­ter of Holo­caust sur­vivors, Ellen G. Fried­man was born in Kyr­gyzs­tan, a repub­lic of the Sovi­et Union. She is pro­fes­sor of Eng­lish and found­ing direc­tor of Holo­caust and geno­cide stud­ies at the Col­lege of New Jer­sey, and is on the Fac­ul­ty Advi­sor’s Coun­cil for the For­tunoff Video Archive for Holo­caust Tes­ti­monies at Yale Uni­ver­si­ty. Her books include Joyce Car­ol Oates, Break­ing the Sequence: Wom­en’s Exper­i­men­tal Fic­tion, Moral­i­ty USA, and Joan Did­ion: Essays and Conversations.