Institutional News
Words, Words, Words
February 11, 2020
In 2019, undergraduate and Bennington Writing Seminars alumni and faculty published over 65 books.
Their writing spanned across a wide range of genres from nonfiction essays, memoirs, and biographies, to novels, poetry, young adult literature, and short stories.
Excited to begin your own legacy as a published writer? Literature and Writing Program at Bennington is all about, or learn more about a Bennington Education in general by contacting our Admissions Office.
Sing to It
By Amy Hempel
High Heel
By Summer Brennan '01
Lima :: Limón
By Natalie Scenters-Zapico
Awards
Booklist 's Top Ten New Novels of 2019The Other Half of Happy by Rebecca Balcárcel MFA '02
Buzzfeed Best Books of 2019 Lima :: Limon by Natalie Scenters-Zapico
Good Housekeeping Best Books of 2019 Once More We Saw Stars by Jayson Greene MFA '21Sing to It by Amy Hempel
National Book Awards Longlist for Poetry Dunce by Mary Ruefle '74Be Recorder by Carmen Giménez Smith
National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist Dunce by Mary Ruefle '74
Poetry Society of America 2019 Chapbook Fellowship
2019 New Mexico/Arizona Book Award in Philosophy Zozobra Poems by Jules Nyquist MFA '07
When Brooklyn was Queer
By Hugh Ryan MFA '09
Once More We Saw Stars
By Jayson Greene MFA '21
Be Recorder
By Carmen Giménez Smith
Jennifer Acker MFA '11, The Limits of the World ,
Sally Ashton MFA '03, The Behaviour of Clocks
Sally Ashton MFA '03 and Amy Gerstler MFA '11, A Cast-Iron Aeroplane That Can Actually Fly
William Ayers MFA '02, about Becoming a Teacher
Rebecca Balcårcel MFA '02, The Other Half of Happy ,
Remica Bingham-Risher MFA '05, Of Color: Poets' Ways of Making
Julie E. Bloemeke MFA '01 and Tami Haaland MFA '00, A Constellation of Kisses
Mark Conway MFA '98, rivers of the driftless region
Carrie Cooperider MFA '18, Best Small Fictions: 2019 Anthology , Sonder Press (contributor)
Jack El-Hai MFA '09, The Lost Brothers: A Family's Decades-Long Search
Jane Elkin MFA '18, What Remains: The Many Ways We Say Goodbye
Teresa Fazio MFA '18, Invisible Veterans: What Happens When Military Women Become Civilian s
Melissa Febos, Faculty, What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About: Fifteen Writers Break the Silence
Melissa Febos, Faculty, Indelible in the Hippocampus: Writings from the Me Too Movement , McSweeneys (contributor)
Melissa Febos, Faculty, Burn It Down: Women Writing About Anger ,
Melissa Febos, Faculty, Eat Joy: Stories & Comfort Food from 31 Celebrated Writers , Black Balloon Publishing (contributor)
Sean Gandert MFA '16, American Saint
Amy Gerstler MFA '11 and Didi Jackson MFA '14, Best American Poetry 2019 , Scribner
Carmen Giménez Smith, Faculty, Be Recorder ,
Tanya Grae MFA '13, Undoll ,
Jayson Greene MFA '21, Once More We Saw the Stars
Debra Gwartney MFA '06, I Am a Stranger Here Myself
Tami Haaland MFA '00, Healing the Divide: Poems of Kindness & Connection , Green Writers Press
JoeAnne Hart MFA '00, Stamford '76: A True Story of Murder, Corruption, Race and Feminism in the 1970s
Amy Hempel, Faculty, Sing To It ,
Chelsea Hodson MFA '17, Pets
Jenn Hollmeyer MFA '12, Orders of Protection
Joanna Kadish MFA '15, Awake in the World, V2
Elizabeth Knapp MFA '00, Requiem with an Amulet in its Beak
Matthew Landrum MFA '10, Berlin Poems
Keith Lesmeister MFA '14, New Stories from the Midwest
Denton Loving MFA '14, Step into the Circle: Writers in Modern Appalachia
Jill McCorkle, Faculty, Margaret Rich MFA '12, and Sharon Swanson MFA '07, Mothers and Strangers: Essays on Motherhood from the New South
Melissa McInerney MFA '15, Good Works Review 2019
Rena J. Mosteirin MFA '18 and James E. Dobson, Moonbit
Rena J. Mosteirin MFA '18 and Sue Repko MFA '12, Lunation
Jules Nyquist MFA '07, Zozobra Poems
Oona Patrick MFA '01, Behind the Stars, More Stars: New Luso-American Writing
Ivy Pochoda MFA '11, Epocha: The Tree of Ecrof
Namrata Poddar MFA '16, Best Asian Short Stories 2019
Meaghan Quinn MFA '14, Slow Dance, Bullets
Ricky Ray MFA '20, Fealty
Irina Reyn MFA '06, Mother Country , Thomas Dunne Books
Hugh Ryan MFA '09, When Brooklyn Was Queer: A History ,
Ricco Siasoco MFA '01, The Foley Artist
Sarah Sousa MFA '09, Yell
Sarah Sousa MFA '09, Hex
Angelique Stevens MFA '17 and Clifford Thompson, Faculty, Apple, Tree
Dalena Storm MFA '15, The Hungry Ghost
Niloufar Talebi MFA '05, Self-Portrait in Bloom ,
Niloufar Talebi MFA '05, HERE: Poems for the Planet
Brent Terry MFA '01, Troubadour Logic
Clifford Thompson, Faculty, What It Is: Race, Family and One Thinking Black Man's Blues ,
Clifford Thompson, Faculty, The Peanuts Papers
Erin Trahan MFA '11, Independent Female Filmmakers
Claire Vaye Watkins, Faculty, The Future is Feminist
Kathleen Alcott, Visiting Faculty, America Was Hard to Find ,
Summer Brennan '01, High Heel ,
Fran Bull '60, Choose Your Own Title
Bret Easton Ellis '86, White ,
Lis Harris '61, In Jerusalem: Three Generations of an Israeli Family and a Palestinian Family
Joan Price '65, Sex After Grief: Navigating Your Sexuality After Losing Your Beloved
Roxana Robinson '68, Dawson's Fall ,
Mary Ruefle '74, Dunce
Natalie Scenters-Zapico, Former faculty, Lima: Limon ,
Amanda Sullivan '09, Breaking the STEM Stereotype: Reaching Girls in Early Childhood
2020: A Preview
In 2020, along with welcoming a new group of Bennington undergraduates and Bennington Writing Seminars candidates—and the many works they will ultimately pen—the College is eagerly anticipating a robust lineup of 2020 publications, including:
Imaginary Museums , a debut short story collection by Nicolette Polek '15, winner of the 2019 Rona Jaffe Writer's Award .Coffee by faculty member Dinah Lenney, published as part of Object Lessons , an essay and book series about the hidden lives of ordinary things.Wandering in Strange Lands by Morgan Jerkins MFA '16 , which recreates her ancestors’ journeys across America, following the migratory routes they took from Georgia and South Carolina to Louisiana, Oklahoma, and California.
Wandering in Strange Lands
By Morgan Jerkins MFA '16
Fableseque
By Anna Maria Hong, faculty member
Follow Me to Ground
By Sue Rainsford MFA '17
Jen Acker, The Poets & Writers Complete Guide to Being a Writer, Avid Reader Press (contributor)
Sean Adams '08, The Heap
Albert Albonado MFA '10, JAW , Sundress
Megan Alpert The Animal at Your Side Arlie Press
Michael Avery MFA '17, The Cooperating Witness , Wanderlust
Nancer Ballard MFA '07, The Science of Story: The Brain Behind Creative Nonfiction , Bloomsbury Academic (contributor)
Julie E. Bloemeke MFA '01, Slide to Unlock , Sibling Rivalry Press
Blake Butler MFA '06, Alice Knott , Riverhead
Elaine Chapman MFA '99, Reservoir , Saint Julian Press
Anais Duplan '14, Blackspace
Teresa Fazio, Fidelis , Potomac Books
Jody Forrester MFA '10, Guns Under the Bed , Oddyssey Books
Tod Goldberg, The Darkling Halls of Ivy , Subterranean Press
Tanya Grae, Best New Poets (contributor)
Katherine Hill MFA '08, A Short Move , LG Publishing
Katherine Hill MFA '08, The Ferrante Letters: An Experiment in Collective Criticism , Columbia University Press (contributor)
Didi Jackson MFA '14, Moon Jar , Red Hen Press
Morgan Jerkins MFA '16, Wandering in Strange Lands Harper
Dinah Lenney, Faculty, Coffee (Object Lessons), Academic
Aimee Liu, Glorious Boy , Red Hen Press
Jill McCorkle, Faculty, Hieroglyphics , Algonquin Books
Kate Milliken, Kept Animals , Simon & Schuster
Marie Mockett MFA '19, American Harves t, Graywolf Press
Emily Mohn-Slate MFA '14, The Falls , New American Press
Joanne Nelson MFA '14, This is How We Leave , Vine Leaves Press
Miriam O'Neal, The Body Dialogues , Lily Poetry Review Books
Ivy Pochoda MFA '11, These Women
Ellen Prentiss Campbell, Known By Heart: Collected Stories , Apprentice House Press
Sue Rainsford MFA '17, Follow Me to Ground
Ricky Ray, Quiet, Grit, Glory , Broken Sleep Books
Ricky Ray, The Sound of the Earth Singing to Herself , Fly on the Wall Press
Maya Ribault, Hôtel de la Providence , Finishing Line Press
Shawna Rodenberg, Kin , Bloomsbury
Katy Simpson Smith, The Everlasting , Harper Books
Brent Terry MFA '01, The Body Electric , Unsolicited Press
Mark Wunderlich, Faculty, The God of Nothingness , Graywolf Press
Caroline Zancan MFA '14, We Wish You Luc k, Riverhead Books
Laura Cresté '13, Poetry Chapbook
Anais Duplan '14, Blackspace: On the Poetics of an Afrofuture, Black Ocean
Anna Maria Hong, Faculty, Fablesque, Tupelo Press (Berkshire Prize Winner)
Shawn MacKenzie '76, Llewellyn's Little Book of Dragons , Llewellyn Publications
Nicolette Polek '15, Imaginary Museums , Soft Skull
Safiya Sinclair '10, How to Say Babylon , Picador
Read a book we've missed? Share it with Communications , and we'll add it to our list.
