Paul Elie

Paul Elie is an accomplished and award-winning author whose works focus on music, religious faith, and how these two entwine with the human experience and the search for identity and fulfillment.

Born in 1961 in Philadelphia, Elie graduated from Georgetown University as an English major and was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford. He went on to get a master's in English from Harvard and there he began writing his first book, The Life You Save May Be Your Own: An American Pilgrimage. This reflect-ive work chronicled the lives of four American Catholic writers: Thomas Merton, Dorothy Day, Flannery O'Connor and Walker Percy. The book was widely praised and went on to win three major awards, including the PEN/Martha Albrand Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award.

In 2003 Elie wrote another work, The Wisdom of the Women: A Celebration of Their Voices and Faiths, which featured the stories of women who had grown up without a faith community. The book also contained stories from women from traditional religious faiths as well. It was nominated for a 2004 National Jewish Book Award and won an Orbis Prize in 2005.

In 2009 Elie published Reinventing Bach, a book that seemed to bridge the divide between spiritual and secular thought. Through this work he explored the life of the baroque composer and argued that Bach's work exists in a distinct illumination that has been the subject of four centuries of music. This book too was well received, winning the William Maillis Egan Award.

Elie has also contributed articles to publications such as Harper's Magazine, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic, exploring subjects such as the Iraq war, the new Pope, and music. He has also enjoyed a successful teaching career at several universities as a Visiting Lecturer and Fellow.

The works of Paul Elie reveal a talent for delving deeply into a subject, capturing the nuances of faith, music, and experience in both a meaningful and engaging way. From exploring the lives of religious figures to questioning how the spirit and secular life are intertwined, Elie's works are intelligent, passionate and thought provoking. His books offer more than a story, lending themselves to reflection as readers process and unpack the ideas exploring in Elie's work.