Dan Elish is the author of twelve novels for readers of all ages, including The Worldwide Dessert Contest (Orchard Books and Bantam, for kids), Nine Wives (St. Martins Press, for grown-up types), and Born Too Short (Simon & Schuster), which won a 2004 International Reading Association Students' Choice Award for young adult literature.

Along with being the co-bookwriter for the musical 13, Dan is the author of the book and co-lyrics for the Off-Broadway musical, The Evolution of Mann, produced at the Cell Theater in NYC in the fall of 2018. He is also the author of numerous children’s musicals (book, music and lyrics) performed in New York City and all over the country.

Dan has also written numerous scripts for TV (notably Cyberchase and The Wonder Pets) and has penned many works of non-fiction for younger readers. He has won scholarships and fellowships to The Bread Loaf and Sewanee Writers' Conferences and is a member of the Dramatists Guild.

Upcoming projects include King of Broadway, a new novel that lovingly sends up the world of musical theater, a YA novel One Last Ride, and a musical version of Born Too Short.