The College of

Arts and Sciences

 

MFA, West Virginia University

 

Areas of Interest & Expertise

• Creative Nonfiction (lyric and narrative essays, memoir, linked essay collections, flash nonfiction, literary journalism)

Recent Courses Taught

• Advanced Creative Nonfiction

• Seminar in Creative Nonfiction: Hybrid Forms

• Seminar in Creative Nonfiction: Integrating Research into Personal Essays, Journalism, and Memoir

• Studies in Creative Nonfiction: Essay Collections

• Craft and Forms of Prose: Flash Nonfiction

• Writing the New Mexican Landscape

Selected Publications

Books:

• Prodigals: A Sister's Memoir. Crux: The Georgia Series in Literary Nonfiction. University of Georgia Press, 2023.

• Shake Terribly the Earth. Ohio University Press, 2013.

Journal Publications:

• "Candy Crane." Sweet: A Literary Confection. Forthcoming.

• "Checking." MiCRo. Publication of Cincinnati Review. 9 June 2021.

• “A Haunting.” Shenandoah. vol. 70, no. 1, Fall 2020.

• “What Happens When You Drown.” Brevity: A Journal of Concise Literary Nonfiction. Issue 61, May 2019.

• “An Infestation.” Colorado Review. Spring 2018.

•  “Beagle in the Road.” Superstition Review, no. 20, Fall 2017.

• "Grateful." Beautiful Things. 25 Sept. 2017.

• "A Hobo Like Me." Quiddity. 10.1. 2017.

• "Things Sad People Shouldn't Have."Pank 10.4. July-Aug. 2015.

• "Chariot's a-Comin'." Gravel. May 2015.

• "Portraits within Portraits." Guernica Daily. 30 April 2015.

• "Ghost Siblings." Beside the Point. Fall 2014. 

• "Ten Years Ago." Brevity. Winter 2014.

• Shorn."Wigleaf: (Very) Short Fiction. 24 Sept. 2012.

• "Dear Wigleaf: Under the Night Heron Tree." Wigleaf: (Very) Short Fiction. 24 Sept. 2012.

• "Boat Stories: Three Generations." Tusculum Review 7 (2011): 175-184.

• "Garbage-Bag Charity." SNReview 10.2 (Summer 2008).

• "Red Ribbon." Paddlefish (2008): 18-21.

Anthology Publications:

• "Lydia." Walking the Line: An Anthology of Parkinson's Writing. Ed. Susan Brennan, Hal Sirowitz, and Minter Krotzer. Vol. 2, Fall 2021 edition. Parkinson's Poetry. Online.

• “Beaver Pond.”  Mountains Piled Upon Mountains: Appalachian Nature Writing in the Anthropocene. Ed. Jessica Corey. Morgantown, WV: West Virginia University Press, 2019.

• "Ten Years Ago." Love and Profanity: A Collection of True, Tortured, Wild, Hilarious, Concise, and Intense Tales of Teenage Life. Ed. Nick Healy. North Mankato, MN: Switch Press, 2015: 128-131.

Craft Pieces:

• “Welcoming Our Ghosts Inside.” Online craft feature, Shenandoah. 1 April 2021.

• “Writing about Grief without Mentioning It.” Guest post, Superstition Review blog. 3 March 2018.

Textbook Chapter:

• “A Memoirist Teaches Narrative.” Who Teaches Writing? Ed. Joshua Daniel. Oklahoma State University Libraries, 2021.

Honors & Offices

• Nonfiction Editor, Cimarron Review

• Wildacres Artist Residency, Little Switzerland, NC, September 2019.

• Jentel Artist Residency, Banner, WY, June-July 2019.

• Hargis Fellowship, Doel Reed Center for the Arts, Taos, NM. Oklahoma State University. June 2018.

• Olive B. O’Connor Fellowship for creative writing at Colgate University, Hamilton, NY, 2009-2010.