Lisa Dickey has helped clients write more than 20 published nonfiction books, including twelve New York Times Best Sellers. Her most recent collaborations are The Situation Room, by George Stephanopoulos with Lisa Dickey (#1 NYT) and True Gretch, by Gretchen Whitmer (#3 NYT).
Lisa began her writing career in 1995 in St. Petersburg, Russia, penning articles for The Moscow Times and USA Today. On returning to the United States in 1996, she worked with renowned tech journalist Kara Swisher on her first book, AOL.COM. From that initial collaboration, Lisa launched a career as a ghostwriter and book collaborator.
Over the ensuing two decades, Lisa worked with high-profile clients such as Jill Biden, Patrick Swayze, Gavin Newsom, Cissy Houston, Herbie Hancock, Tammy Duckworth, Sheila Johnson and Roberta Kaplan. Her collaborations have spanned a vast array of topics, from politics to business to entertainment.
Lisa is also the author of Bears in the Streets: Three Journeys Across a Changing Russia, published by St. Martin’s Press in 2017. Called “brilliant, real and readable” by Madeleine Albright, the book describes Lisa’s 20 years of in-depth interviews with the same Russians between 1995-2015. Kirkus Reviews called it a “spirited account… that reveals true Russian personality.”
Lisa is an accomplished storyteller on stage, appearing at live events such as the the Moth Grand Slam, Don’t Tell My Mother, and Drunk on Stage at Akbar. She is also a credited writer on the award-winning documentary film Letter to Anita, and a contributor to Audible’s Coming Out Party.
Prior to her writing career, Lisa worked as a Russian translator and, for nine glorious months, as a lounge singer in Japan. A 1988 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a B.A. in Russian Language and Literature, she lives with her wife, the TV and film writer Randi Barnes, in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.