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2025 GEORGIA AUTHOR OF THE YEAR
Tap Dancing on Everest
A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure
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Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctor—and only woman—on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.
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The team attempts a new route up the East Face without the use of supplemental oxygen, Sherpa support, or chance for rescue. When three climbers disappear during their summit attempt, Zieman reaches the knife edge of her limits and digs deeply to fight for the climbers’ lives and to find her voice.
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Sparkling with suspense and vulnerability, this narrative of self-discovery captures the curiosity and awe of a young woman as she faces down childhood messages to stay small and safe and ventures into the unknown.
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“Tap Dancing on Everest” is gorgeous. It is so full of joy, zest and fun and yet with some profound thoughts. Once started you cannot put it down."
- Sir Chris Bonington
Author of Everest the Hard Way,
"A riveting memoir...the overall quality of the writing is exceptional."​- named a "MUST-READ" Book and a "Best Book" of 2024 by Independent Book Review​
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Winner, 2025 Georgia Author of the Year for memoir
Winner, Best memoir of 2024, American Writing Awards
Winner, Best memoir of 2024, Storytrade Awards
Winner, Best Non-Fiction Adventure book, 2024, Int'l Readers' Favorite Awards
Winner, Best Memoir and Winner, Travel self-discovery book, The BookFest
Winner, Distinguished Favorite Nonfiction book 2025, Independent Press Award
Winner, Best Non-Fiction, Winner, best multicultural, Outstanding Creator Awards
Winner, Best Memoir Spring 2024, Pencraft Awards for Literary excellence
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Book Trailer
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"Mimi Zieman is brave, tough, and impressive when on Everest, and lively, engaging, and funny when on the page. After returning from her climb, she says she was "very grateful for ceilings." I myself, am grateful for her vivid recounting of all her journeys."
— Meg Wolitzer,
New York Times bestselling author of The Interestings
“Tap Dancing on Everest is that rare book that manages to capture the adrenaline rush of a thrilling adventure and the gut-wrenching pathos of an epic tragedy. Mimi Zieman is telling a story that readers will be unable to put down—not just about life and death on the world’s most dangerous mountain, but about how we, as human beings, too often have to put ourselves in extreme danger to feel fully alive. I was utterly captivated by this story. You will be, too.”
- Steve Almond
All the Secrets of the World ​
“The best ascent of Everest in terms and style of pure adventure.”
- Reinhold Messner
The first man to solo Everest​
“With a poetic vision that is staggering in its honesty and beauty, Mimi Zieman brings readers into the heart of a Himalayan ascent, guiding us along some of the unexpected pathways that intense adventures can trace in both body and mind.”
- Katie Ives
Imaginary Peaks: The Riesenstein Hoax and Other Mountain Dreams
“Mimi Zieman’s book is an ideal alchemy of grit and grace. The lessons Zieman learns on the mountain are important lessons for us all. A wild and deeply satisfying journey.”
- Emily Rapp Black
The Still Point of The Turning World ​
“From page one, Tap Dancing on Everest draws you into the heart-stopping world of mountaineering. An engaging narrative rich in details and vulnerability, the story captures the adventure in reaching beyond one's comfort zone and into the unknown."
-- Johanna Garton,
Edge of the Map: The Mountain Life of Christine Boskoff
i write about medical topics to empower you with information
i write creatively to explore the meaning behind experiences we share
about mimi.
Mimi Zieman is a physician, explorer, and author who has treated frozen limbs on the highest mountain, delivered triplets near the deepest ocean trench, danced through Broadway studios, and has written the award-winning memoir Tap Dancing on Everest, about the risks we take to become our truest selves, selected as Best Memoir of 2024 by the American Writing Awards and for which she was named 2025 Georgia Author of the Year.
Her story connects being the daughter of immigrants raised in New York City with discovering a passion for mountains. She backpacked alone in Nepal at 22, then served as the sole medical support—and was the only woman —on a remote Everest climb in Tibet when she was a 25-year-old medical student. Full of self-doubt, Zieman grappled with whether to go but couldn't resist the call of the wilderness and mountains. She refers to that responsibility—for a climb that used no oxygen or Sherpa support and had no chance for rescue—her “Everest.”
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She’s also written a play, The Post-Roe Monologues, that has been performed in multiple cities and co-authored seventeen editions of a medical guide, Managing Contraception. Her writing has appeared in in USA Today, Newsweek, Salon, The Sun Magazine, Ms. Magazine, The Forward, NBC News THINK, and other publications.
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She did her OB/GYN training at Columbia University, a fellowship in family planning at UCSF, and is an advocate for reproductive rights, having served as Director of Family Planning, Emory University School of Medicine, Chief Medical Officer Planned Parenthood Southeast and as an advisor to the CDC working on contraceptive guidelines. Her newsletter, Medicine, Mountains & More, is available on Substack and provides medical news along with inspiration from art and nature. Learn more at www.mimiziemanmd.com
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She’s the mother of three grown children and home base is with her husband and dog in Atlanta, far from her New York City roots, with no high mountain in sight, where she eats no grits, biscuits, or collards, and must navigate ten lane highways. But she loves Southern hospitality, her community of friends, and the canopy of trees which keeps her grounded.
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The Post-Roe Monologues
Diverse people affected by the new world order post-Roe, tell their stories in poignant monologues highlighted by humor.
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The Post-Roe Monologues by Mimi Zieman presents a diverse cast of characters—inspired by true stories, interviews, and research—who deliver poignant monologues, and who interact in surprising ways. Those interactions underlie the theme of “we are all connected,” because although people may think that the Dobbs Supreme Court ruling doesn’t affect them – it does. These stories are intimate. These stories increase understanding, compassion, and motivate action.
The November show at Merkin Hall in NYC featured 15 Broadway performers.
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personal essays
While Talking About Public Health, Let’s Not Forget Contraception
Newsweek, Read
I'm an OB-GYN in the South. Abortion bans make it impossible to 'do no harm.'
USA Today, Read
Mount Everest was the riskiest place I had practiced medicine until I became an OB/GYN in the South, Salon, Read
Climbing Mount Everest Just got a little less dangerous, Boston Globe, Read
On the Anniversary of Dobbs, Women in the South Should Start Taking Pregnancy tests monthly, Newsweek, Read
The Bus, The Sun Magazine Read >
Matzo at 18,000 feet — what it’s like to lead a Seder on Mount Everest, The Forward, Read >
Beaming Bridge, Five Minute Lit, Read >
What the Christian Right Gets Wrong About Birth Control, Ms. Magazine, Read >
The Versailles, Dorothy Parker's Ashes, Read >
Anti-abortion bills don't only harm women seeking the service, NBC News THINK, Read >
Appreciating Humanity in the Vaccine Clinic, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Read >
RBG’s Legacy Is a Call to Pursue Justice, Atlanta Jewish Times, Read >
authored chapters
Operative Gynecology
