Biography
A native of rural Pennsylvania, I grew up surrounded by storytellers, rich folklore, and the abandoned sites and machinery from the Keystone State’s heyday as an industrial hub. This upbringing has inspired my view that stories and literature are always a public good: inclusive communities and social networks thrive on narratives. As a creative writer, editor, and critic, I am drawn to exploring how the acts of crafting, interpreting, and sharing literature generate empathy across the divides of time, space, nation, and region. In my classes and work, I emphasize the role of new media (like digital publications and podcasts) in opening new venues for young writers and for literary engagement. After spending nearly a decade in urban homes like Newark, NJ, and Washington, DC, I’m thrilled to be at UND and along the banks of the Red River, places which remind me of my favorite spots along Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna River.
ENGL 226: Introduction to Creative Writing
ENGL 234: Introduction to Writing, Editing, and Publishing
ENGL 271: Reading & Writing about Texts
ENGL 306: Creative Writing: Fiction
ENGL 323: Studies in Literary Genre
ENGL 334: Practicum in Writing, Editing, and Publishing
ENGL 413: The Art of Writing: Poetry
ENGL 414: The Art of Writing: Fiction
ENGL 531: Seminar in English Literature
Creative Writing
Creative Writing Pedagogy
Twentieth Century British Literature
Literary Modernism
Public Humanities
Publishing & Editing / Literary Magazines & Journals
Novella
- "Him in the Gorse." Clarion #22. Online edition: November 2018. Print edition: 2019.
Selected Short Fiction
- "Creatures of the Deep, as Observed from a Distant Shore." Lake Effect #25 (2021): 56-66.
- "After the Mirages." LandLocked 3.1 (2021): 33-38.
- "Sacred Heart Aflame at Your Cousin Cassidy's Wedding." Longleaf Review. June 2019.
- "Polaroid Snapshot: Skinny Dipping in the Little Juniata River." CHEAP POP (2019).
- Selected for inclusion in Best Microfiction 2020, eds. Meg Pokrass and Gary Fincke, guest ed. Michael Martone.
- "Self-Portrait with Windmill." Fiction Southeast. March 2018.
- "Lucky Strikes." Souvenir Lit. December 2017.
- "The Survivors." Duende. October 2016.
Selected Criticism & Reviews
- "Silence Is Seldom Still: Deafness, Sound, and Character in Fiction." Musing the Margins: Essays on Craft. Ed. Audrey T. Carroll. Wilmington: Human/Kind Press, 2020. 165-189.
- “Sharpshooters, Straight Shooters, and Tall Tales: On John Larison’s Whiskey When We’re Dry,” review in The Millions. September 2018.
- “‘Frost-Crisp’d’ Verses: Adelaide Crapsey’s Cinquains and the Poetics of Illness.” Adelaide Crapsey: On the Life and Work of an American Master. Eds. Jenny Molberg and Christian Bancroft. Warrensburg: Pleiades Press, 2018. 195-217.
- "A Defense of the Artist-Critic." Part 1. Massachusetts Review 58.4 (Dec. 2017): 702-718.
- "A Defense of the Artist-Critic." Part 2. Massachusetts Review 59.1 (Mar. 2018): 145-161.
PhD, The George Washington University (2017): English
MFA, Rutgers University – Newark (2012): Creative Writing
MA, Bucknell University (2010): English
BA, Susquehanna University (2008): Creative Writing
BA, Susquehanna University (2008): Political Science
Modern Language Association of America, 2015 to Present
Association of Writers and Writing Programs, 2015 to Present
Mid-Atlantic Popular Culture Association, 2013 to Present
Northeast Modern Language Association, 2011 to Present