Harris was born in New York City. She attended Bennington College, where she received her B.A. in 1961.
Harris joined the full-time faculty of the Writing Program at Columbia University's School of the Arts in 2003. There, she leads Nonfiction Dialogues, a series of conversations with distinguished writers. She is Chair of the Writing Program.
Awards and honors
Harris was a Woodrow Wilson Lila Acheson Wallace Fellowship recipient twice. In 1998, she was awarded grants from the J.M. Kaplan Fund, the Fund for the City of New York, the Gund Foundation, the German Marshall Fund, the Kaplan Fund, the Fund for the City of New York, the Woodrow Wilson Lila Acheson Wallace Foundation, and the Rockefeller Fund.[2][3]
Publications
Books
Holy Days : The World of the Hasidic Family, Touchstone books 1985 ISBN0-684-81366-1
Rules of Engagement – Four Couples and American Marriage, Touchstone books 1996 ISBN0-684-82527-9
‘’Tilting at Mills: Green Dreams, Dirty Dealings, and the Corporate Squeeze’’, Houghton Mifflin 2003