Henry Alley

Fiction Writer

Eugene, OR
Oregon US

Author's Bio

Henry Alley is a Professor Emeritus of Literature in the Honors College at the University of Oregon. He has five novels, Through Glass (Iris Press, 1979) The Lattice (Ariadne Press, 1986), Umbrella of Glass (Breitenbush Books, 1988), Precincts of Light (Inkwater Press, 2010) Men Touching (Chelsea Station Editions, 2019), and Galen's Legacy (Rattling Good Yarns Press, 2022). Also his Leonardo and I appeared, winner of the Gertrude Press 2006 Fiction Chapbook Award. His stories have been published over the past forty years in such journals as Seattle Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, Clackamas Literary Review and Harrington Gay Men’s Quarterly Fiction. His articles have been published in The Journal of Narrative Technique, Studies in the Novel, Twentieth Century Literature, and Kenyon Review. His essay on versions of Mrs. Dalloway came out in Papers on Language and Literature, and his article on the film and story Brokeback Mountain recently appeared in an anthology from McFarland Press. The University of Delaware Press published his book-length study, The Quest for Anonymity: The Novels of George Eliot, in 1997. He is active in the Lane Literary Guild in Eugene, Oregon. He is presently marketing several novels, including his latest, People Who Work, about a mother and son discovering their separate callings in the late 1960s. His treatment of the gay artist as tragic hero in The Picture of Dorian Gray can be read online in Comparative Literature and Culture from Purdue University. An article on Tennessee Williams is in circulation.  His story about Henry James's passion for the young sculptor Hendrik Andersen was published in Gents:  Steamy Stories from the Age of Steam (Lethe Press 2017), an anthology that is a finalist for the Lambda Literary Awards.

Publications & Prizes

Books:
Galen's Legacy (Rattling Good Yarns Press, 2022)
,
Men Touching (Chelsea Station Editions, 2019)
,
The Dahlia Field: Stories (Chelsea Station Editions, 2017)
,
Precincts of Light (Inkwater Press, 2010)
,
Umbrella of Glass (Breitenbush Books, 1988)
,
The Lattice (Ariadne Press, 1986)
,
Through Glass (Iris Press, 1979)
Chapbook:
Leonardo and I (Gertrude Press, 2006)
Journals:
Clackamas Literary Review
, ,
Seattle Review
,
Prizes won: 

The Dahlia Field:  Stories, Best Indie Books of 2017, Kirkus Review, Honorable Mention, Richard Hall Memorial Short Story Contest, 2003. Second Life, Semi-finalist in the Elixir Novel Contest, 2004. Story Nominated for the Pushcart Prize XXX: 2006. Semi-finalist, Spokane Prize for Short Fiction, 2006. Story Nominated for the Pushcart Prize XXXI: 2007. Winner, Gertrude Press 2006 Fiction Chapbook Competition. Honorable Mention, August 2008 Very Short Fiction Competition, Glimmer Train. First Place, Gertrude Press Short Story Contest, 2015, Best Gay Stories 2017.  In 2018, he was awarded a Mill House Residency. 

Personal Favorites

Favorite authors: 
George Eliot, Virginia Woolf, Homer, John Milton, D.H. Lawrence, Williams Shakespeare.
What I'm reading now: 
Odyssey by Homer

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Prefers to work with: 
Adults
Fluent in: 
English
Born in: 
Seattle, WA
Washington
Raised in: 
Seattle, WA
Washington
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: May 22, 2022