Erica Wagner

Biography

Erica Wagner is the author of Chief Engineer: Washington Roebling, The Man Who Built the Brooklyn Bridge. Published in 2017, it was one of the Economist’s Books of the Year and was described by that publication as “a masterful psychological study about duty and drive.” Her other books include Ariel’s Gift: Ted Hughes, Sylvia Plath and the Story of Birthday Letters and a novel, Seizure. She was the literary editor of the London Times for seventeen years and is now deputy editor of the op-ed pages of the Observer. She hosts a podcast for CHANEL and is frequently on the BBC and other networks. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Public Fellow in the Humanities at the School of Advanced Studies, University of London. Her novel, Wash, will be published in May 2026 by Salt.