Lydia Davis (Northampton, Massachusetts, July 15, 1947) is an American writer of short stories, stories, novels, and essays, as well as a translator.

Lydia Davis was born in Northampton, Massachusetts, on July 15, 1947. She is the daughter of Robert Gorham Davis, an English critic and teacher, and Hope Hale Davis, a short story writer and teacher. Davis on her childhood initially: "She studied music (first piano, then violin), which was her first passion." Years later, when Ella Davis became a writer, she commented, "I was probably always meant to be a writer, even if that wasn't my first passion. I think I must have always wanted to write somewhere in myself or I probably never would have." She studied at Barnard College, and at that time she wrote mainly poetry.

In 1974, Davis married fellow writer Paul Auster, with whom she had a son named Daniel Auster. Auster and Davis would later divorce; After which, years later Davis would marry again, this time with the artist Alan Cote, with whom she had another son: Theo Cote.She 6 Currently she is a professor of creative writing at the University of Albany; she as well as having worked at New York University in 2012.