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Elizabeth Hanly is a bi-lingual writer/editor/educator who specializes in creative non-fiction. Her expertise is in Latin America and the Caribbean, human rights, religion and the arts. She is based in South Florida.

Hanly has brought home stories from war zones and refugee camps, from gold mines in Brazil and Peronist Party headquarters in Buenos Aires, from art studios in Havana. She has written on the joys of Fogal stockings and prides herself on finding Josephine Baker’s former hair-dresser in Havana. Hanly’s work has been published in the New York Times among several dozen newspapers and national magazines.

A professor of journalism and an Honors College Fellow at Florida International University, she has designed cultural, educational and human rights programs then written and received grants for those programs from the Ford Foundation among other organizations.
Hanly has recently turned her attention to social entrepreneurial initiatives but remains fascinated with the potential for stories in social justice and reconciliation work. She is an experienced consultant/editor for both the business and non-profit sectors. She’s served as book doc/ ghost writer. A lot of kids became a lot happier after knowing her as a tutor.

Bottom line: Hanly thinks Umberto Eco was very right when he said, “To survive you must tell stories.”
 
A few lines from one of Hanly's stories, a book length project set in Havana:

"Stay with me,” she sings. The orchestra is silent now. The feathered showgirls have come down from their platforms in the trees. Mercedita has a spot-light, all else in dark. “Stay with me.” A spent voice in a broken down club. Everything here is over-grown and open air. The night-blooms are so thick that even after leaving this place the scent lingers on one’s skin. She stands here, a slight old woman who always wears what might be diamond studded glass slippers. ‘Stay with me,” she sings on the stage of a legendary cabaret in Havana. Mercedita’s   audience is in tears

This is her story, though she insists it is mine too. This is a love story, but I don’t know the parameters anymore. I can’t tell the difference now between her song, your touch and night in this crazy city. Night here has as much presence as you do.
© 2010 Elizabeth Hanly All rights reserved.