Meg Elison was born in South Carolina, where her parents were stationed. “I have no memory of that place and no affinity for the southern coast, though I hear it’s beautiful. I did a residency in Savannah, GA, and could see Columbia, place of my birth, from there. Nothing called to me across the water.” As a family, they moved a lot, but Elison always found her way to libraries and stores with discounted books.