Zevin graduated from Harvard University in 2000 with a degree in English with a concentration in American Literature. She lives in Los Angeles.

Zevin’s debut novel Margarettown was published in 2005. It was a selection of the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Program and longlisted for the James Tiptree, Jr. Award. In a starred review, Kirkus Reviews called the novel “a droll piece of romantic whimsy with an unexpected resonance.”

Zevin’s first YA novel Elsewhere was also published in 2005, three months after Margarettown. It was chosen as an American Library Association Notable Children’s Book, nominated for a 2006 Quill award, won the Borders Original Voices Award, and was a selection of the Barnes & Noble Book Club. It also made the Carnegie long list. The book has been translated into over 25 languages.

In 2007, Zevin was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay for Conversations with Other Women. The film was directed by Hans Canosa and starred Helena Bonham Carter and Aaron Eckhart.

Zevin’s 2007 Young adult book Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac was chosen for the ALA Best Books for Young Adults list. In 2010, she and Hans Canosa adapted it into a screenplay that became the Japanese movie Dareka ga Watashi ni Kiss wo Shita (Someone Kissed Me), starring top teen idol actress Maki Horikita.

In 2014, Zevin’s novel for adults, The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry, debuted on the New York Times Best Seller List, reached #1 on the National Indie Best Seller List, and went on to become an international bestseller. It has been translated into over thirty languages.