Aleksandra Merk is a writer and college teacher based in Ontario, Canada. Born in Toronto to parents from Central and Eastern Europe, she grew up navigating multiple cultural identities. Her writing explores immigrant family dynamics, personal longing, and the inner vs. outer lives of women and mothers. She was shortlisted for Room Magazine's 2024 short fiction prize, and she is currently seeking publication for her first novel.
Aleksandra received her Honours B.A. in English Literature and International Relations from the University of Toronto, and her M.A. in English Literature and American Studies from the University of Nottingham, UK. After graduate school, she worked as a writer and contributing editor for Niagara Magazine, Interiors Magazine, and Business Niagara. Since 2007, she has been teaching English and Communications at Niagara College in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario.
In 2019, Aleksandra completed The Story Course Intensive via the Sarah Selecky Writing School. She is also a proud graduate of Book Alchemy's very first Dream to Draft cohort and a member of its supportive and inspiring writing community, Your Writing Year. In 2022, she lived with her family in Berlin, Germany where she completed a storytelling through podcasting project. She wrote about this experience on her Substack, Berlin for a Season.
Some of her favourite books include February, by Lisa Moore; The Night Watchman, by Louise Erdrich; Lives of Girls and Women, by Alice Munro; This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, by Ann Patchett; Writers and Lovers, by Lily King; Anne of Green Gables, by L. M. Montgomery; and Machine Without Horses, by Helen Humphreys. Yes, she reads a lot of books about women, by women.
In 2007, she fell in love with a piano player. They married in 2013 and live together with their two children and their dog, Russell.