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April 2021

  • Excited to talk fairy tales again at Indiana Writers Center on April 11th.  You can register for “Fairy Tale Lessons in Craft”–a three hour class with plenty of opportunities to generate new work–here.  Here’s the course description: “What can any writer of any genre learn about craft from studying the fairytale? Fairytale scholars such as Kate Bernheimer, Jack Zipes, Phillip Pullman, and Italo Calvino would assert that all writers have a lot to learn from the fairytale, whether we are interested in directly retelling old tales in our own work or we would like to tap into the unordinary elements that are flowing beneath our writing in a more general way. From the fairytale we can learn about magic flatly rendered, the ironic precision of abstraction, the taboo, subtext, grace, rhythm, among many other things. From the fairytale we can better understand the extraordinary that resides within the ordinary in our writing (and vice versa), and how this might help us tap into the intricacies and mysteries of our own voices.”

March 2021

  • Gearing up for my class “An Eye for the Weird” at Indiana Writers Center on March 21st. You can register here. It’s a 3 hour workshop with plenty of opportunities to generate new work.  Here’s a description of the class: “How can the strange, the uncanny, and the unordinary help give us more direct access to our characters’ ordinary, human experiences? This class will explore how some “weird” writers like myself work with a careful balance of the ordinary and the unordinary, the naturalistic and the fantastic in their fiction. We will discuss overt examples of weird writing, such as magical realism, fabulism, and fairy tales. And we will also explore more subtle approaches, such as conducting creative research about unknown topics and discovering a sense of mystery about topics that you are already familiar with. Participants should be both inspired and challenged to discover how injecting a sense of the unknown and the off-kilter—whether to a large degree or only in small doses—might open up the characters in their own writing.”

April 2018

  • Ready to usher in springtime with my talk, “An Eye for the Weird,” at the Owen County Public Library on April 21 at 12:30. The presentation will also include a reading as well as a writing exercise for participants.

January 2018

  • Thrilled to attend the Tin House Short Fiction Winter Workshop, where I’ll get to work with Carmen Maria Machado.

November 2017

  • I will also get to talk about my “Eye for the Weird” at the Tippecanoe County Public Library on November 9th at 7pm.

May 2017

  • Excited to give a talk called “An Eye for the Weird” at Muncie Public Library’s Gathering of Book Clubs event on May 8th at noon.  I will share about how I think Indiana and the midwest have shaped the surreal, strange aspects of my fiction.

March 2017

  • Looking forward to giving the keynote address at the Women’s Expo on March 4th, held at the Frankfort Community Public Library in Frankfort, Indiana.  The event will celebrate women owned businesses, and proceeds raised from a raffle will support Rainbow Haven, a women’s shelter.
  • On March 23rd I get to talk with students at Corpus Christi School in Evansville, Indiana about how important silliness and play can be in storytelling.
  • Excited to talk about writing through the mess in order to reach a final draft at the 2017 Gathering of Writers on March 25th, hosted by the Indiana Writers Center.  You can register here.

November 2016

  • Super excited to lead a workshop at Mid-American Review’s 16th Winter Wheat Conference, November 3-5th.  Come join me for “Fairytale Lessons in Craft: Licking Your Writing Clean” and many other wonderful sessions.  You can register here.

October 2016

  • I’ll be reading at Indiana State University on October 26th at 4pm.
  • The dinner for the 2016 Indiana Authors Award will take place at the beautiful Indianapolis Central Library on October 29th. I’m a finalist in the emerging category, and the winner will be announced that evening! Preceded by an entire day of exciting literary events, tickets to the award dinner can be purchased here.

June 2016

April 2016

  • Extremely excited to be a part of the Kelly Writers Series at DePauw University–my alma mater! April 3 at 7:30pm, Peeler Art Center Auditorium.

November 2015

  • Looking forward to a residency at Sundress Academy for the Arts’ Firefly Farms, where I’ll get to hang out with the farm animals and dive into some writing projects.  Thank you, SAFTA!

April 2015

  • Visiting Writer at Penn State Behrend in Erie, PA on April 30th. 5:30 reception followed by 6pm reading in Smith Chapel. I’ve heard rumors about really good cookies at the reception…

February 2014

  • Visiting fiction writer at WordFest, hosted by the MFA program at California State University at Fresno–home of the wonderfully abnormal Normal School! Details to come.

December 2013

  • Visiting Late Night Library in Portland, Oregon as part of their visiting writers series on December 5.  More details to come!

November 2013

October 2013

September 2013

August 2013

  • A mini-workshop on “Writing the Unknown” and a reading at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Cincinnati, Tuesday 8/6 @7pm.

July 2013

  • Book signing at the Lake Superior Trading Post in Grand Marais, MN.  July 19 from 1-3pm.  I grew up shopping at this phenomenal store after long, treachorous camping trips in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness as a kid–was always a much needed dose of civilization!  My short story “Vanishing Point” (in What You Are Now Enjoying) and my novel in progress both take place in this amazing pocket of the world.

June 2013

  • Teaching a workshop, “Writing the Unknown,” for the kick-off of summer at the Indiana Writers Center on June 1 @10am and at 826michigan on June 2 @11am.  If you are in the area, come join me!  I’ll also be reading and chatting about the unknown and the weird and the strange and the fantastic at Literati Bookstore in Ann Arbor on June 2 @3pm.

May 2013

April 2013

March 2013

  • AWP Boston, March 6-9.
  • Thursday, March 7: 10:30am, Grub Street Presents the Icon, the Immigrant, the Bookie, and the Superhero–moderated by Steve Almond (reading and Q&A), Patricia Olson Bookfair Stage, Exhibit Hall A.
  • Thursday, March 7: 2:00pm, signing WHAT YOU ARE NOW ENJOYING at the Autumn House Press table, E5, E6
  • Friday, March 8: 10:00am, signing WHAT YOU ARE NOW ENJOYING at the Guernica Table

February 2013

January 2013

October 2012

September 2012

  • Presented as the new 2012-13 Pen Parentis Fellow! Read from my work and received a $1,000 check on September 11th in NYC.

August 2012

  • Stewart O’Nan selects What You Are Now Enjoying as the winner of the 2012 Autumn House Press Fiction Prize! Forthcoming in early 2013.
  • “Vanishing Point” selected as a finalist in The New Guard‘s fiction contest, judged by Rick Bass.  Forthcoming Fall 2012.
  • “My Husband’s House” selected by Kevin Wilson as a special mention in Copper Nickel‘s fiction contest. Forthcoming Fall 2012.
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