Melanie Sumner

Fiction Writer

Taos, NM
New Mexico US
Twitter/X: 

Author's Bio

Melanie Sumner is the author of four books of fiction, How to Write a Novel, The Ghost of Milagro Creek (New Mexico Book Awards 2010), The School of Beauty and Charm, and Polite Society, a collection of West African short stories. She is a recipient of numerous awards, including the Whiting Award, a National Endowment for the Arts grant, and the New Mexico Book award. Her recent novel manuscript is set in a fictional town in Alaska.

 

Melanie’s publishing history includes short fiction and creative nonfiction in numerous journals and anthologies including The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, The New York Times, and Atlanta Magazine. She has appeared on NPR and Georgia Public Radio. Currently she lives in Taos, New Mexico and teaches at Kennesaw State University. 

Publications & Prizes

Books:
How To Write A Novel (Vintage, 2015)
,
The Ghost of Milagro Creek (Algonquin Books, 2010)
,
The School of Beauty and Charm (Algonquin Books, 2001)
,
Polite Society (Houghton Mifflin, 1995)
Prizes won: 

Whiting Award

National Endowment for the Arts

Personal Favorites

Favorite authors: 
Borden Deal, Willy Vlautin, Daniel Woodrell, Richard Yates, Marisa Silver, Kent Haruf, Elena Ferrante, Flannery O'Connor, William Faulkner, Malcolm Gladwell, Mary Gaitskill, Amy Tan, Amy Bloom, Patricia Highsmith
What I'm reading now: 
The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction, 50 North American Short Stories Since 1970 by Edited by Les Willigord and Michael Martone

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Identifies as: 
American
Prefers to work with: 
Any
Fluent in: 
English
Born in: 
Middletown, OH
Ohio
Raised in: 
Rome, GA
Georgia
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Last update: Oct 12, 2024