“Poetry is the language we speak in the most terrifying or ecstatic passages of our lives. But the very word poetry scares people. They think of their grade school teachers reciting 'Hiawatha' and they groan.”

American novelist, satirist, and poet

Erica Jong is an American novelist, satirist, and poet, known especially for her 1973 novel Fear of Flying. That book drew wide attention for its frank treatment of female sexuality and became part of the cultural moment of second-wave feminism. It sold more than 37 million copies worldwide, and remains the work most closely associated with her name.