About

I have been editing and writing professionally for thirty-five years. I love helping people express themselves and discover their voice. I’m a strong collaborator who is adept at refining storytelling, arc, logic, voice, transitions, and word choices. There are so many ways of telling an effective story, and so many varieties of experience. I feel lucky to be able to accompany people through the process of figuring out how to convey what they care about most.

Background

My writing is in The New York Times, The New Yorker, Foreign Policy, Fast Company, The New Republic, The Atlantic Monthly, The Times Literary Supplement, Virginia Quarterly Review, Kenyon Review, American Poetry Review, and A Public Space. I’ve reported on parental leave, child custody, culture, media, books, innovation, tech, and design. 

I’ve published an essay collection, Happier Far (2025), two collections of poetry, Tiny Extravaganzas (2023) and Forest with Castanets (2019), and a poetics guide, How to Write Poetry (2005). My writing has been recognized by the Café Royal Cultural Foundation, the Peter Heinegg Literary Award, and fellowships at Civitella Ranieri, Yaddo, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. I was an editor at A Public Space, executive nonfiction editor at Guernica, and editor at PEN America’s Glossolalia, which highlighted writing in translation. I teach writing workshops at the New York Society Library and the 92nd Street Y. For information about my books, visit dianemehta.net or download my resume.