Liz Becker

Elizabeth Becker (Liz Becker) is an eclectic writer - having diverse interests over the years. In her 30s, Liz was a published scientist. In her 40-50s, she focused on autism. Now, in her 60s, Liz has turned to writing fiction.

As a Published Scientist: Her research, “Male induction of female quiescence/catalepsis during courtship in the spider, Agelenopsis aperta” has been cited over 100 times.

As an Autism Author: Liz wrote 2 books on autism and raising her mostly non-verbal, moderate / severe autistic son, and learning to communicate with him. Liz has been a pioneer of the autism community since 2005. Liz, refusing to accept the dogma of the time that autistic children needed to be institutionalized, found a way to communicate with her non-verbal son using her instincts as a scientist and as a mother. Her first book, "Autism and the World According to Matt", a collection of short stories, revealed the challenges, joys, heartaches and successes on raising a child on the severe end of the spectrum at a time before anyone even knew there was a spectrum. Matt is now living independently - a feat just as rare as his condition once was, even though he is still moderate / severe autistic and mostly non-verbal.

Her second book, "Listening with the Heart", was the first book to examine the non-verbal forms of communication as strategies for understanding the non-verbal autistic child and provide strategies for 2 way communication without relying solely on speech.

Liz has been helping people for almost a decade and currently reaches 127 countries and 7 million people. She has been a featured guest on Autism Live, Everyday Autism Miracles, The Autism Channel, The Hour of Joy Show, and has articles and interviews in Autism Daily Newscast, Autism Parenting Magazine, Roanoke Times, and others. She was a frequent short-story contributor to the Autism Support Network and was one of the first authors to be highlighted as an Autism Light (#13 out of now over 400 people).

In her 60s, Liz has now turned her writing creativity toward fiction. Her latest book, "“The Awakening of Zo: A Norse Tale of Magic and Destiny”" combines Norse mythology and magic to present-day life. Liz pulls on her own ancestry and the Viking roots her grandmother had always told her about. Her interests in the Norse legends – Odin, Freya, the Fates, and Yggdrasil cradling the 9 realms - eventually led her to the Norse seidr (ancient magical arts). She wondered, “what if these older Norse sorceresses were the first witches?” The story follows an elderly Zosia (Zo), having been rocked by tragic life events, sheds the conventions of the human life she has come to know, to embrace her heritage and her destiny, as a powerful sorceress.

Elizabeth has a BS in Biology, MS in Education, and post-graduate course-work in Neurobiology. She currently teaches biological sciences for Radford University in Radford Virginia. Elizabeth and her husband of 34 years live in southwest Virginia.