Gretel Ehrlich is an American travel writer, poet, and essayist. One of Ehrlich’s most beloved books is a volume of creative nonfiction essays called Islands, The Universe, Home. Other books include This Cold Heaven: Seven Seasons in Greenland and two volumes of poetry. In 1991 Ehrlich was hit by lightning. She was incapacitated for several years, and she wrote a book about the experience, A Match to the Heart, which was published in 1994. Since 1993, she has traveled extensively, especially through Greenland and western China. Her work is frequently anthologized, including The Nature Reader. She has received many grants and created a ballet for the South Bank Theatre in London. Her most recent book is Facing the Wave: A Journey in the Wake of the Tsunami, about the after effects of the 2011 tsunami in Japan.