Eric Michael Liddick grew up in a rural, blue-collar community in central Pennsylvania. He enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserves, departing less than two weeks following high school graduation for the idyllic vacation destination of Parris Island, South Carolina. Following a lengthy break in service during which he graduated from college and law school, E.M. Liddick left private practice in a large firm to continue serving the Nation with the U.S. Army’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps. A veteran and former member of the Army’s elite 75th Ranger Regiment, his service included three deployments to Afghanistan.
E.M. Liddick’s deep, complex, and fundamentally loving relationship with his father took a devastating turn after his father’s diagnosis with early-onset Alzheimer’s at age 59. While this tragic diagnosis served as a harsh reminder to “live life fully,” E.M. Liddick ignored the lesson until, nearly a decade into his father’s long goodbye, he returned from Afghanistan exhibiting distressing symptoms. His continued struggles with post-traumatic stress and moral injury, along with the grief over losing his father, propelled him into writing as a means for healing. Often through the prism of love, his writing lays bare—in raw, gripping, and touching detail—the rich inner dialogue underlying our most basic emotions.
A two-time finalist in the Wild Atlantic Writing Awards for creative nonfiction, his professional articles have appeared in multiple academic journals and professional magazines. When he’s not roasting coffee, E.M. Liddick can be found in Virginia, or wherever adventure awaits.