Avital Chizhik grew up in Highland Park, New Jersey, the daughter of Russian immigrants who came to New York in 1980. Her essays have appeared in the New York Times, Haaretz, The Forward, and Tablet . She was named a finalist for the 2012 Elie Wiesel Prize in Ethics, and her fiction has received recognition from the Atlantic Monthly, Moment Magazine and the National Young Arts Foundation. 

She lives in New York City.