Elodie Olson-Coons is a writer, ghostwriter, editor and translator
who works with other people’s words and helps other people tell their stories.
Under my own name, I write fiction, poetry and essays. I’m particularly interested in work relating to memoir, travel, culture and food; in the lyric, the personal and the descriptive. I’m also drawn to experimental work exploring language or lying at the threshold between prose and poetry.
With The Second Pen, I write other people’s work in their own words, from literary fiction to academic research, from autobiographies to web content. An internationally-published ghostwriter with seven books to other people’s names, I’m interested in any calibre and genre of work, from restructuring an existing manuscript to writing your life story from scratch.
With seven years of professional experience as a book editor, I specialise in literary and historical fiction, memoir and travel writing. I'm drawn to the collaborative aspects of editing, including working closely with writers on structure and style.
A third way of working with other people’s words, translation has always fascinated me. As a bilingual writer, I’m drawn above all to work that would benefit from a literary touch, from novels and poetry to museum brochures and web storytelling.
RECENT PROJECTS
THE REPUBLIC OF FALSE TRUTHS, ALAA AL ASWANY (FABER)
WHEN WE CEASE TO UNDERSTAND THE WORLD, BENJAMÍN LABATUT (PUSHKIN)
BREAKFAST IN BOGOTÁ, HELEN YOUNG (UNBOUND)
THE WALL AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD, DAMION HUNTER (CANELO)
