Elizabeth Rau began her writing career at a magazine and small newspaper in New England, leading to nearly 15 years as a reporter for The Providence Journal. It was there that editors, hoping to make much of her interest in feature writing, assigned her a series of stories that appeared over two summers titled “The Water’s Edge,” which focused on everyday Rhode Islanders who lived and worked near the smallest state’s 400 miles of coastline. Over the years, she has won many regional and local journalism awards for her work, and her stories about her experience in an Amtrak train crash in 1987 were nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Rau left The Journal in 2000 to freelance, writing personal essays and feature stories for magazines and newspapers. Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, Rau has lived on the East Side of Providence with her family for decades.