Aleksandra Merk is a writer and college teacher in Ontario, Canada. Her Substack, Berlin for a Season, reflects on her recent time living abroad (with children!) and on the small, brilliant moments of everyday life. She is currently revising her first novel.
Born in Toronto to immigrant parents from Central and Eastern Europe, she grew up in a small town in southern Ontario. She 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 Intensive via the Sarah Selecky Writing School, where she deepened her connection to the writing process and developed her confidence as a writer. 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, Manageable Yet Meaningful Writing Lab.
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.