Nicki Ehrlich grew up in Southern Illinois before attending college at the University of Denver and later, Idaho State University, where she graduated with a B.A. in Philosophy/English. After living ten “horse-rich” years in Idaho, she moved on to Oregon, and later Washington, where she realized she had unwittingly traveled the Oregon Trail. 

While living in the Pacific Northwest, Nicki continued to write fiction, non-fiction and poetry. Her debut novel, Ellis River, won the Independent Book Publishers Association's Bill Fisher Award for Best First Book - fiction. The novel was also a finalist for the Eric Hoffer First Horizons Award, received an Honorable Mention for the Eric Hoffer Grand Prize, and was a semi-finalist for the Publishers Weekly Booklife Prize. The Ellis River Audiobook won the Independent Book Publishers Association's IBPA Book Award for Best Audiobook - Fiction. Nicki has won additional awards for her poetry and creative writing, including the Writer’s Digest Annual Poetry Awards and the Ray Fabrizio Memorial Award.

Nicki holds a Certificate in Creative Writing from Monterey Peninsula College and is a member of the Central Coast branch of the California Writers Club. She currently lives on California’s inspiring central coast where she is at work on the final book of the Ellis River trilogy.

You can find Nicki at: NickiEhrlich.com, Instagram, and Goodreads.