Erica Jong grew up on Manhattan's Upper West Side and attended Barnard College, where she majored in creative writing and literature. She earned a master's degree in eighteenth-century English literature from Columbia University, and abandoned her doctoral studies to write her groundbreaking first novel, Fear of Flying , which sold more than thirty-seven million copies worldwide. She is also the author of many award-winning books of poetry, non-fiction and novels, including Sapphin's Leap , Fanny , Maiden Blues , Fear of the Fifties and Fear of Dying . Lives in New York and Connecticut. Her work has impacted the lives of women around the world.