Faculty
Keija ParssinenProgram Director Partial list of writings: The Unraveling of Mercy Louis, The Ruin of Us, Travel essays in The Lonely Planet anthologies Better Than Fiction, Better Than Fiction 2, and On the Road, Short fiction in Slice magazine, Salon, the New Delta Review and elsewhere. Education MFA in Fiction Writing, The University of Iowa
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AboutKeija Parssinen attended Princeton University, where she studied English literature and received a certificate from the Program for the Study of Women and Gender. She earned her MFA at the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she was a Truman Capote fellow, a Teaching and Writing fellow, and the student editor for the Iowa Short Fiction contest. After finishing the program, she won a Michener-Copernicus award for her debut novel, The Ruins of Us, which was published in the US, UK, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, Italy and around the Middle East. The novel was long-listed for the 2012 Chautauqua Prize. In 2014, Keija was a Visiting Professor of fiction writing at Louisiana State University. Her work has appeared in the Lonely Planet travel-writing anthologies, Five Chapters, the New Delta Review, Salon, Marie Claire and elsewhere. Keija was born in Saudi Arabia and lived there for twelve years before her family moved to Austin, Texas, where she discovered Tex-Mex, Willie Nelson, and basketball. She played competitively throughout middle and high school, spending many hours on buses traveling the blue highways of Texas to play in gymnasiums that all, inevitably, smelled the same: like Frito pie and cleaning solvent. In many ways, The Unraveling of Mercy Louis is a tribute to all the badass girls she met on that journey: her coaches, the ones on her team, and the few Mercys she played against, the ferocious girls who left her awe-struck as they lit up the scoreboard, as they owned the court, the day, the season, the town. Currently, Keija directs the Quarry Heights Writers’ Workshop and works with students in Cedar Crest College’s low-residency Pan-European MFA program. She lives in Columbia, Missouri with her husband and son. |
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Alison WellfordInternal Director Partial List of Writings and Publications: Indolence Education: MFA in Fiction, Queens University of Charlotte |
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Robert Antoni
Partial list of writings: As Flies to Whatless Boys, Carnival, My Grandmother’s Erotic Folktales, Blessed Is the Fruit, and Divina Trace Education PhD in English Literature, The University of Iowa |
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AboutRobert Antoni was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1958, and he carries two passports: from the US, and Trinidad and Tobago. Antoni’s fictional world is the island of Corpus Christi, and to create it he draws upon his two hundred years of family history in Trinidad and Tobago, as well as his upbringing in the Bahamas. His first novel, Divina Trace, was published in 1991, and his most recent novel, Carnival, was published in 2005. The latter work has appeared in French, Spanish, Finnish, and Chinese translations. Antoni was named a Guggenheim Fellow for 2010 for his upcoming historical novel, As Flies to Whatless Boys. Antoni has taught a wide range of courses in creative writing and literature at such esteemed institutions as The New School University of New York, Columbia University, The University of Miami, The University of Iowa, and Johns Hopkins University. He currently lives in Manhattan, and he frequently visits Barcelona, where he has kept an alternate address for the past 20 years. Teaching Experience
Awards & Honors
LanguagesFluent in English and Spanish PublicationsNovels
Short Fiction
Academic Papers
Editing ResponsibilitiesI am presently a Senior Editor at Conjunctions, and a Contributing Editor at the Paris Review andBOMB magazine. Journal EditedThe Archipelago: New Writing from and about the Caribbean, coedited by Robert Antoni and Bradford Morrow, Conjunctions: 27, published by Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504, November, 1996, 352 pages. Interviews
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David Bezmozgis
Partial list of writings: The Free World, Journey Prize Stories (editor), and Natasha and Other Stories Education MFA in Production, University of Southern California, School of Cinematic Arts, Los Angeles, CA |
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AboutDavid Bezmozgis is an award-winning writer and filmmaker who was born in Riga, Latvia, and immigrated to Toronto in 1980. The New Yorker recently listed him as one of the most promising fiction writers under the age of 40. David’s first novel, The Free World, was published in 2011 in multiple countries, and his first collection, Natasha and Other Stories, has been translated into 15 languages. David’s short stories have appeared in numerous publications including The New Yorker, Harpers, Zoetrope All-Story, and The Walrus. His work has been broadcast on NPR, the BBC, and the CBC, and his stories have been anthologized in The Best American Short Stories2005 & 2006. Bezmozgis has also received international acclaim for his first feature film, Victoria Day. David is currently a fellow at the Harvard/Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. He has taught at Columbia University in New York and at Humber College and York University in Toronto. Teaching Experience
Awards & Honors
Memberships
Languages
PublicationsBooks
Fiction in Collections and Anthologies
Fiction and Essays in Newspapers and Magazines
Stories Adapted for Radio and Stage“The Proposition”, Symphony Space, Selected Shorts. New York. December 12, 2007. Part of MacDowell Colony Centennial Celebration. National US radio broadcast on NPR. Narrative and Documentary FilmsVictoria Day A coming-of-age story set in Toronto in 1988 chronicling a momentous week in the life of a sixteen year-old Russian Jewish boy. The Genuine Article: The First Trial The film follows three Canadian law students and one Bay Street law firm during the intensive and highly competitive summer recruitment period. Shot in a verite style, with the aim of presenting as unmediated a perspective on the events as possible. The Diamond Nose A magical realist story about a Jewish boy who has a nose that is both indestructible and incomparably large. L.A. Mohel The film follows three practitioners of the ancient rite of Jewish ritual circumcision, an Orthodox rabbi, a nurse midwife, and a doctor popularly known as “the mohel to the stars.” Through them, the film explores the changing nature of Jewish community, tradition, and culture. Talks and Presentations (Partial List)
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Jeffrey Greene
Partial list of writings: Shades of the Other Shore, French Spirits, Beautiful Monsters, Water From Stone, The Golden-Bristled Boar Education
PhD in Literature & Creative Writing, University of Houston |
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AboutJeffrey Greene has published five collections of poetry, most recently Beyond Our Means (2016). He is the author of the memoir French Spirits and three personalized nature books, including In Pursuit of Wild Edibles (2016). He is also the author of Shades of the Other Shore, a book of mixed genre writing: sketches, prose pieces, and poetry written in collaboration with painter Ralph Petty. His writing has been supported by the NEA, the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, and Rinehart Fund, and he was a winner of the Samuel French Morse Prize, the Randall Jarrell Award, and the "Discovery"/ The Nation Award. His poems, short stories, and essays have appeared numerous publications, including The New Yorker, Poetry, The Nation, Ploughshares, Agni, Southwest Review and the anthologies Strangers in Paris, Intimacy, and Nothing to Declare: A Guide to Flash Sequence. He is professor at the American University of Paris and mentors for the Pan-European MFA Program. Teaching Experience
Awards & Honors
Grants & Fellowships
Professional Activities
LanguagesGreene writes and speaks fluent English and can communicate in French. PublicationsMemoir
Nature Books
Poetry
Poetry ChapbookGlimpses of the Invisible World in New Haven. Coreopsis Books, 1995. Winner of the Coreopsis Book Prize. Musical SettingsAcross Time, Across Memory. Mirror Visions Ensemble. Albany Classical Records. 2005. Selected Poetry in Periodicals
Short Fiction
Anthologies (Poetry)
Internet Features
Interview“An Interview with Stanley Plumly.” The Writer’s Chronicle. December 2000. Essays/Review
Musical Adaptation
ExhibitionAmerican Spirituals in “POET 2000 Sculpted Library” sponsored by DUBCIT, Dublin, and the European Commission’s CULTURE 2000 Internationale Literaturfestival Berlin and permanent exhibition Dublin. |
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Aleksandar Hemon
Partial list of writings: The Lazarus Project, The Question of Bruno, Nowhere Man, Love and Obstacles Education
BA in General Literature, University of Sarajevo |
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AboutAcclaimed fiction writer Aleksandar Hemon is the author of The Lazarus Project, which was a finalist for the 2008 National Book Award and National Book Critics Circle Award. He has also written three collections of short stories: The Question of Bruno,Nowhere Man (also a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award), and Love and Obstacles. Born in Sarajevo, Hemon visited Chicago in 1992, intending to stay for a matter of months. During Hemon’s visit, Sarajevo came under siege, and the writer was unable to return home. Hemon wrote his first story in English in 1995. His books have been published in over 20 countries around the world. Hemon was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2003 and a “genius grant” from the MacArthur Foundation in 2004. He lives in Chicago with his wife and daughter. Teaching Experience
Awards & Honors
PublicationsNovels
Short Story Collections
Short Fiction
Book Reviews and Magazine Articles
Editing ExperienceEdited Best European Fiction, 2010 and 2011 editions (The Dalkey Archive Press). |
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Gwyneth Lewis
Partial list of writings: Parables & Faxes, Zero Gravity, Keeping Mum, Chaotic Angels, A Hospital Odyssey, Sparrow Tree, and the three Welsh collections in Tair mewn Un (“Three in One”); non-fiction Sunbathing in the Rain, Two in a Boat; novella The Meat Tree Education
D Phil in English Literature, Balliol College, Oxford |
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AboutGwyneth Lewis was appointed Wales’s first National Poet in 2005 and was honored with the task of composing the six-foot-high words displayed on the front of Cardiff’s new Wales Millennium Centre, which is now a national icon. Gwyneth has published 10 books of poetry in Welsh and English, including Sparrow Tree, Parables & Faxes, Keeping Mum, Zero Gravity, Tair mewn Un(“Three in One”), and Y Llofrudd Iaith (“The Language Murderer”). Zero Gravity, inspired by her astronaut cousin, was made into a documentary by the BBC. Her nonfiction books includeSunbathing in the Rain: A Cheerful Book on Depression and Two in a Boat: A Marital Voyage. She has written libretti for two chamber operas for children, an oratorio, and several radio plays, including Stardust: A Love Story, which explains the basic principles of particle physics. Gwyneth has studied at prestigious institutions including Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, and Columbia, and she has received numerous fellowships and awards for her work. Teaching ExperienceGwyneth is a freelance teacher of Masterclasses and Workshops in poetry and creative nonfiction both in the UK and the US. Gwyneth has also been a Writer in Residence at the School of Physics and Astronomy, Cardiff University. Prizes & Honors
LanguagesWelsh (fluent), English (fluent) French (fluent), German (conversational), Spanish (conversational) PublicationsBooks
Libretti
Broadcasting & Journalism
Stage Plays
Work Experience
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Karan Mahajan Partial list of writings: The Association of Small Bombs, Family Planning Education MFA in Fiction Writing, Michener Center for Writers, University of Texas
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AboutKaran Mahajan grew up in New Delhi, India and lives in Austin, Texas. He is the author of Family Planning, a finalist for the International Dylan Thomas Prize, and The Association of Small Bombs, which was shortlisted for the 2016 National Book Awards, won the 2017 Bard Fiction Prize and the 2017 NYPL Young Lions Award, and was named one of the New York Times Book Review's "Ten Best Books of 2016." He was also selected as one of Granta's Best of Young American Novelists. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, The New Yorker Online, n+1, and other venues. |
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Dinaw Mengestu
Partial list of writings: How to Read the Air, The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears Education MFA in Fiction, Columbia University |
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AboutDinaw Mengestu was born in Ethiopia and raised and educated in the American Midwest. He received his bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University and his MFA from Columbia University. Mengestu has received numerous awards and honors as a writer of both fiction and nonfiction works. His first novel, The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears, was named a New York Times Notable Book in 2007, and his second novel, How to Read the Air, received the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. Mengestu’s nonfiction writing has appeared in Rolling Stone, Jane Magazine, Harper’s, and The Wall Street Journal, among other publications, and includes articles on recent conflicts in Darfur and Uganda. Recently, Mengestu acted as a Distinguished Writer in Residence at Tulane University. He is currently at work on his third novel. Teaching Experience
Awards & Honors
Selected Conferences & Lectures
PublicationsFiction
Nonfiction
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Alice Miller
Books: Nowhere Nearer, Blaue Stunde, The Limits Education M.F.A. Creative Writing, Iowa Writers’ Workshop, University of Iowa |
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PRIZES, FELLOWSHIPS, RESIDENCIES
SELECTED EMPLOYMENT HISTORY
RECENT READINGS
LIST OF PUBLICATIONSBooks
SELECTED MAGAZINES, JOURNALS, ANTHOLOGIES
THEATRE, RADIO, AUDIO
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Diana SpechlerPartial list of writings: Who By Fire, Skinny, Essays in The New York Times, Paris Review, GQ, Esquire, and Tin House Education MFA in Creative Writing, University of Montana |
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AboutDiana Spechler is the author of the novels Who By Fire (Harper Perennial, 2008) and Skinny (Harper Perennial, 2011), of the New York Times column Going Off, and of a forthcoming nonfiction book based on that column (Crown). She has written for GQ, Esquire, New York, Paris Review, The Wall Street Journal, Tin House, Glimmer Train Stories, and many other publications. She won the Orlando Nonfiction Prize from A Room of Her Own Foundation and has been awarded a number of residencies and fellowships, including a Steinbeck Fellowship from San Jose State University and a fellowship from the Sozopol Fiction Seminars in Bulgaria. Flavorwire named her one of "50 Writers You Need To See Read Live." NovelsSkinny (Harper Perennial, 2011)
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David St. John
Partial list of writings: The Auroras, The Face: A Novella in Verse, Prism, In the Pines: Lost Poems, Study for the World’s Body: New and Selected Poems, Terraces of Rain: An Italian Sketchbook, No Heaven, The Shore, Hush, Where the Angels Come Toward Us Education
MFA in Creative Writing, The University of Iowa |
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AboutDavid St. John is an award-winning poet born in Fresno, California. St. John’s work has earned him some of the most prestigious awards for poets, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, several National Endowments for the Arts, and an Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts. He has authored nine collections of poetry, including The Auroras, The Face: A Novella in Verse, Prism, In the Pines: Lost Poems, Study for the World’s Body: New and Selected Poems, Terraces of Rain: An Italian Sketchbook, No Heaven, The Shore, and Hush. St. John has also authored the collection of interviews and essays entitled Where the Angels Come Toward Us, and he has edited numerous poetry anthologies, including The Pushcart Book of Poetry and American Hybrid: A Norton Anthology of New Poetry. His work has also appeared in publications such as The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Poetry, American Poetry Review, Harper’s, and more. St. John has taught creative writing at Oberlin College and Johns Hopkins University and currently teaches at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Teaching Experience
Awards & Honors
Professional Listings
Languages
PublicationsAuthored Books (Poetry)
Edited Books (Poetry)
Books (Prose)
Limited Edition Books (Poetry)
Translation (Books)
Anthologies & Texts (Poetry)The American Poetry Anthology (1975); The Pushcart Prize IV (1979); Writing Poems (1982, Second Edition 1987); To Make A Poem (1982); Love Stories/Love Poems: An Anthology (1982); The Longman Anthology of Contemporary American Poetry (1983, Second Edition 1989); The Heath Guide to Poetry (1983); Two Decades of New Poets (1984); Divided Light: Father and Son Poems (1984); New American Poets of the 80′s (1984); Songs From Unsung Worlds (1985); The Morrow Anthology of Younger American Poets (1985); Strong Measures: Contemporary American Poetry in Traditional Forms (1985); The Antaeus Anthology (1986) Piecework (1987); Vital Signs: Contemporary American Poetry From The University Presses (1989); The Best American Poetry of 1989 (1989); The Best American Poetry of 1990 (1990); The Forgotten Language: Contemporary Poets and Nature (1991); The Best American Poetry of 1991 (1991); New American Poets of the ’90s (1991); The Best American Poetry of 1992 (1992); One Hundred and One Poems of Romance (1992). Sweet Nothings (1993); The Sarjevo Anthology (1993); What Will Suffice: The Ars Poetica in Contemporary American Poetry (1994); Walk on the Wild Side (1994); Models of the Universe;(1994); Clare/Song (1994); The Pushcart Prize XX (1995); The Writing Path (1995); Grand Passion (1995); The Routledge Anthology of Cross-Gendered Verse (1995); Highway 99 (1996); An Invisible Ladder (1996); The Pushcart Prize XXII (1997); Leaving Home (1997); The Beach Book: A Literary Companion (1998); Outsiders (1998); The Bread Loaf Anthology of Contemporary Poetry (1999); The Geography of Home: California and the Poetry of Place (1999); Orpheus and Company (1999); The Making of a Poem: An Anthology of Poetic Forms (2000); Lighthouse Poems (2000); The Body Electric: The Best Poetry From The American Poetry Review (2000); Contemporary American Poetry (2000). Motion: American Sports Poems (2000); Beyond the Valley of Contemporary Poets (2000); Contemporary American Poetry (7th Edition; 2001;8th Edition, 2006); How Much Earth (2001); Poets of the New Century (2001); September 11, 2001: American Writers Respond (2002); Poems of the American West (2002); Poetry in Motion from Coast to Coast (2002); So Luminous The WIildflowers: An Anthology of California Poets (2003); The Misread City: New Literary Los Angeles (2003);Against Constraints: POETS FOR PEACE ANTHOLOGY (2003); Old Glory: American War Poems from the Revolutionary War to the War in Iraq (2004); The Best Of Poetry Daily (2004); The Janitor at Radio City Music Hall (2005); The Imaginary Poets (2005); Poetry Calender 2006 (2005); Range of Voices (2005); Cloud View Poets (2005); Manthology: Poems on the Male Experience (2005); Words Brushed By Music (2005); The Face of Poetry (2005); Literature: The Human Experience, Ninth Edition (2005); Francis and Clare in Poetry (2005); Lineas Conectados: Nueva poesia de los Estados Unidos (2006); American Alphabets: 25 Contemporary Poets (2006); Third Rail The Poetry of Rock and Roll (2007); American Poets Against the War (2009). Anthologies, Text or Essay Collections (Prose)Charles Wright: A Profile (1979); Poets Teaching (1980); Acts of Mind: Conversations With Contemporary Poets (1983); 45 Contemporary Poets: The Creative Process (1985); Contemporary Literary Criticism (1985); The Day I Was Older: Essays on Donald Hall (1989); Conversant Essays: Contemporary Poets On Poetry (1990); Under Discussion: Philip Levine (1990); Spreading the Word: Editors on Poetry (1990); Creative Writing in America: Theory and Pedagogy (1990); Giving Sorrow Words (1990); The Practice of Poetry (1992); The Oxford Companion to Twentieth Century Poetry in English (1994); So the Wind Won’t Blow It Away (1995); The Point Where All Things Meet (1995); The Point Where All Things Meet: Essays on Charles Wright (1995); Writing It Down For James: Writers on Craft (1995); Poets Reading: The FIELD Symposia (1999); Writing in Flow, (1999). City Secrets: Rome (2000); “Forward,” The Gazer Within: The Selected Prose of Larry Levis,” University of Michigan Press, (2000); “The Poetry of Philip Levine,” Contemporary Literary Criticism, Gale Research, (2002); “Larry Levis: An Afterward”; A Condition of the Spirit: The Life and Work of Larry Levis (2004); “Introduction,” Cloud View Poets (2005); The Imaginary Poets (2005); Poets On Place (2005); High Lonesome: On the Poetry of Charles Wright (2005); Lasting: Poems on Aging (2005);Dark Horses:: Poets on Overlooked Poems (2007); Chafrles Wright in Conversation: Interviews 1979-2006 (2008). Public Art
Magazines (Poetry Published in)The New Yorker, Poetry, Antaeus, The Paris Review, The Nation, The New Republic, Field, The Partisan Review, The Virginia Quarterly Review, The American Poetry Review, The Iowa Review, Boulevard, The Antioch Review and many others. Essays, Articles & Reviews in Newspapers & JournalsParnassus, The American Poetry Review, The Washington Post Book World, The Seneca Review, The Antioch Review, The New York Times Book Review, The Los Angeles Times Book World,Field, Open Places, Quarry west, Denver Quarterly,Los Angeles Magazine, The Western Humanities Review and others. Musical Settings of Poems/Musical Collaborations
Additional Professional Experience
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Peter Streckfus Partial list of writings: Errings, The Cuckoo Education MFA in Creative Writing, Poetry, George Mason University
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AboutPeter Streckfus is the author of two poetry books: Errings, winner of Fordham University Press’s 2013 POL Editor’s Prize, and The Cuckoo, which won the Yale Series of Younger Poets competition in 2003. His poems appear in journals such as The Chicago Review, The New Republic, Seattle Review, and Slate. His awards include fellowships and grants from the Breadloaf Writers’ Conference, the Peter S. Reed Foundation, the University of Alabama, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the American Academy in Rome where he is a Fellow in Literature. He lives in the Washington DC area with his wife, poet and translator Heather Green, and is on the faculty of the Creative Writing Program at George Mason University. |
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