A Year in Books
A dystopian metropolis plagued by dragons. A disillusioned detective back on the beat. An exploration of what it means to be black, feminist, and female in America. A deep dive into the new science of psychedelics. Across millions of words and myriad perspectives, one constant is clear: 2018 was a big year for Bennington writers.
In 2018, undergraduate and Bennington Writing Seminars alumni and faculty published over 75 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?
Check out what the undergraduate Literature and Writing Program at Bennington is all about, or learn more about a Bennington Education in general by contacting our Admissions Office.
We Love All the Beautiful Girls
By Joanne Proulx MFA '14
(2018 U.S. Release)
Awards
American Book Fest Best Books of the Year
Poetry Finalist
Fealty: Poems by Ricky Ray MFA ’20
Chicago Public Library Best Books of 2018
This Will Be My Undoing by Morgan Jerkins MFA ’16
Chicago Review of Books The Best Books of 2018 So Far
Tonight I’m Someone Else by Chelsea Hodson MFA ’17
Feast: True Love In and Out of the Kitchen by Hannah Howard MFA ’18
The Economist’s Books of the Year
Fire Sermon by Jamie Quatro MFA ’09
Entropy Magazine
Best of 2018: Best Poetry Books & Poetry Collections
Nerve Chorus by Willa Carroll '97, MFA '11
Age of Glass by Anna Maria Hong, faculty member
Cruel Futures by Carmen Gimenez Smith, MFA faculty member
Best of 2018: Best Fiction Books
H & G by Anna Maria Hong, faculty member
Goodreads Choice Awards
Best Memoir & Autobiography nominee
When They Care You a Terrorist: A Black Lives Matter Memoir by Patrisse Khan-Cullors & Asha Bandele MFA ’99
Lit Hub Favorite Books of 2018
The Sky is Yours by Chandler Klang Smith ’05
The New York Times Top Ten Books of 2018
Small Fry by Lisa Brennan-Jobs MFA ’09
How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan ’76
NPR Best Books of 2018
Small Fry by Lisa Brennan-Jobs MFA ’09
The Sky is Yours by Chandler Klang Smith ’05
How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan ’76
Publisher’s Weekly
Best Books of 2018
How to Write an Autobiographical Novel by Alexander Chee, Former Bennington Writing Seminars Faculty
The Most Anticipated Books of Spring 2018
Cruel Futures by Carmen Giménez Smith, MFA Faculty
Reader’s Digest Best Audiobooks of 2018
Song of a Captive Bird by Jasmin Darznik MFA ’14
Real Simple Best Books of 2018
The Kinship of Secrets by Eugenia Kim MFA ’01
2018 Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellowship
Faculty member Natalie Scenters-Zapico
The Wall Street Journal Science Fiction: Best of 2018
The Sky is Yours by Chandler Klang Smith '05
The Washington Post 50 Notable Works of Fiction in 2018
Conscience by Alice Mattison, Bennington Writing Seminars Faculty
2018 Bennington Writing Seminars Publications
- Kim Adrian MFA '04, The Twenty-Seventh Letter of the Alphabet, University of Nebraska Press
- Claire Clube MFA '08, Changlings & Omen Birds, Railroad Street Press
- Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele MFA '99, When They Call You a Terrorist, St. Martins Press
- Shauna Barbosa MFA '17, Cape Verdean Blues, University of Pittsburgh Press
- AW Barnes MFA '17, The Dark Eclipse: Reflections on Suicide and Absence, Bucknell University Press
- Paul Beckman MFA '99, Kiss Kiss, Truth Serum Press
- Jenny Boully, BWS Faculty, Betwixt-and-Between: Essays on the Writing Life, Coffee House Press
- Lauren Brazeal MFA '16, Gutter, Yes Yes Books
- Lisa Brennan-Jobs MFA '09, Small Fry, Grove
- Elijah Burrell MFA '12, Troubler, Kelsay Books
- Kurt Caswell MFA '04, Laika's Window: The Legacy of a Soviet Space Dog, Trinity University Press
- Willa Carroll '97, MFA '11, Nerve Chorus, The Word Works
- Alexander Chee, Former BWS Faculty, How to Write an Autobiographical Novel, Bloomsbury Publishing
- Jasmin Darznik MFA '14, Song of a Captive Bird, Ballantine Books
- Lauren Davis MFA '14, Each Wild Things Consent, Poetry Wolf Press
- Elizabeth Farrell MFA '07, Earlier Heaven, Finishing Line Press
- Carmen Giménez Smith, BWS Faculty, Cruel Futures, City Lights Publishers
- Tami Haaland MFA '00, What Does Not Return, Lost Horse Press
- Lise Haines MFA '02, When We Disappear, Unbridled Books
- Donald Hall, Former BWS Faculty, A Carnival of Losses: Notes Nearing Ninety, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
- Christine Herzer MFA '09, Orange, Ugly Duckling Presse
- Chelsea Hodson MFA '17, Tonight I'm Someone Else, Holt Paperbacks
- Hannah Howard MFA '18, Feast: True Love In and Out of the Kitchen, Little A
- Morgan Jerkins MFA '16, Well-Read Black Girl (contributor), Ballantine Books
- Morgan Jerkins MFA '16, This Will Be My Undoing, Harper Perennial
- Eugenia Kim MFA '01, The Kinship of Secrets, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
- Brian Jerrold Koester MFA '16, Bossa Nova, River Glass Books
- Caroline Malone MFA '96, Dark Roots, Finishing Line Press
- Alice Mattison, BWS Faculty, Conscience, Pegasus Books
- Leslie McGrath MFA '05, Feminists Are Passing from Our Lives, The Word Works
- Tiffany Melanson MFA '15, 15 Views of Jacksonville (contributor), Bridge Eight Press
- George Michelsen Foy MFA '98, Run the Storm: A Savage Hurricane, a Brave Crew, and the Wreck of the SS El Faro, Scribner
- Shonna Milliken Humphrey MFA '04, Dirt Roads and Diner Pie, Central Recovery Press
- Monica Minott MFA '18, Thicker Than Water: New Writing from the Caribbean, Peekash Press
- Miriam O'Neal MFA '99, We Start with What We're Given, Kelsay Press
- Rolf Potts MFA '11, Souvenir, Bloomsbury
- Joanne Proulx MFA '14, We All Love the Beautiful Girls (US release), Grand Central Publishing
- Jamie Quatro MFA '09, Fire Sermon, Grove
- Sue Rainsford MFA '17, Follow Me to Ground, New Island Books
- Ricky Ray MFA '20, Fealty: Poems, Eyewear
- Judy Rowley MFA '02, Expected Home: A Memoir and a Mystery, CreateSpace Independent
- Mark Sarvas MFA '19, Memento Park, Farrar, Straus and Giroux
- Lynne Sharon Schwartz, BWS Faculty, Run For Your Life by Silvana Gandolfi (translator), Restless Books
- Sarah Sousa MFA '09, See the Wolf, CavanKerry Press
- Clifford Thompson, BWS Faculty, 2018 Best American Essays (contributor), Best American Paper
- Randi Triant MFA '01, The Treehouse, Sapphire Books Publishing
- Naomi Wax MFA '01 and Bill Shapiro, What We Keep, Running Press Adult
- Carolyn Welch MFA '98, The Garden of Fragile Beings, Finishing Line Press
- Sandra Worsham MFA '06, Patterns, Third Lung Press
2018 Undergraduate Alumni and Faculty Publications
- Gordon Robert Abrams '80, Charon's Ferry, Self Published
- Fran Antmann '69, Maya Healers: A Thousand Dreams, Nirala Publications
- John Barr, Former Board Member/Interim President, Dante in China, Red Hen Press
- Andrew Barton '09, The Myrtlewood Cookbook: Pacific Northwest Cooking, Sasquatch Books, Penguin Random House
- James D. Bloom '72, Reading the Male Gaze in Literature and Culture: Studies in Erotic Epistemology (Global Masculinities), Palgrave Macmillan
- Wilma Kantrowich Chandler '60, Directing Theater 101: 10 Steps to Successful Productions for New Directors and Regional Theater Companies, Crossroad Press
- Gioia Chilton '89, Positive Art Therapy Theory and Practice: Integrating Positive Psychology with Art Therapy, Routledge
- Noah Coburn, Faculty, Under Contract: The Invisible Workers of America's Global War, Stanford University Press
- Margot Davis '65, Antigua 1967-73, Nazraeli Press
- Ruth Doan MacDougall '61, A Gunthwaite Girl, Site Fidelity, Frigate Books
- Jill Eisenstadt '85, Swell, Little Brown and Co
- Rima Faber '65, Thinking With the Dancing Brain: Embodying Neuroscience, Rowman and Littlefield
- Monica Ferrell, Faculty, You Darling Thing, Four Way Books
- James Geary '85, Wit's End: What Wit Is, How It Works, and Why We Need It, Brilliance Audio
- John Getchell '86, Sign of the Apocalypse, Skyhorse Publishing
- Karen Gover, Faculty, Art and Authority, Oxford University Press
- Joseph Grantham '16, Tom Sawyer, Civil Coping Mechanisms
- Anna Maria Hong, Faculty, Age of Glass, Cleveland State University Poetry Center
- Anna Maria Hong, Faculty, H & G, Sidebrow Books
- Chandler Klang Smith '05, The Sky is Yours, Hogarth
- Rivera Sun '04, The Roots of Resistance, Rising Sun Press Works
- Jonathan Lethem '86, The Feral Detective, Hogarth
- Florian Louisoder '82, Shockwave, Self Published
- Christine Managan '04, Tangerine, Ecco
- Radha Marcum '96, Bloodline, 3: A Taos Press
- Jennifer Mieres '82, Heart Smart for Women, Onward Publishing
- Ana Miljackiji '95, The Optimum Imperative: Czech Architecture for the Socialist Lifestyle, 1938–1968, Routledge
- Catherine Pikula '13, I'm Fine, How Are You, Newfound
- Michael Pollan '76, How to Change Your Mind, Penguin Press
- Betsy Robinson '73, The Practice: Dee and Bea's Quick & Easy Guide to the Enlightenment, Self Published
- Adi Tantimedh '88, Her Beautiful Monster, Atria/Leopoldo & Co
- Leah Tieger '03, We and She, You and Then, You Again, Finishing Line Press
- Anne Waldman '66, Trickster Feminism, Penguin Books
2019: A Preview
In 2019, 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 2019 publications, including:
- White, the first work of nonfiction by Bret Easton Ellis ’86.
- An English translation from the Portuguese of Moldy Strawberries: Stories by Caio Fernando Abreu by Bruna Dantas Lobato ’15, supported by a PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grant.
- Sing to It, a short story collection from 2018 Yaddo Artist Medal recipient and Bennington Writing Seminars faculty member Amy Hempel.
- High Heel by Summer Brennan ’01, published as part of Object Lessons, an essay and book series about the hidden lives of ordinary things.
America Was Hard to Find
By Kathleen Alcott, visiting faculty
Coming May 2019
Lima/Limon
By Natalie Scenters-Zapico, faculty member
Coming May 2019
2019 Upcoming Bennington Writing Seminars Publications
- Jennifer Acker MFA '11, The Limits of the World, Delphinium
- Sally Ashton MFA '03, The Behaviour of Clocks, WordFarm
- Rebecca Balcårcel MFA '02, The Other Half of Happy, Chronicle Books
- Remica Bingham-Risher MFA '05, Of Color: Poets' Ways of Making (contributor)
- Blake Butler MFA '06, Alice Knott, Riverhead
- Mark Conway MFA '98, rivers of the driftless region, Four Way Books
- Melissa Febos, Faculty, What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About: Fifteen Writers Break the Silence, Simon & Schuster (contributor)
- Carmen Giménez Smith, Faculty, Be Recorder, Graywolf Press
- Tanya Grae MFA '13, Undoll, YesYes Books
- Jayson Greene MFA '21, Once More We Saw the Stars, Knopf
- Debra Gwartney MFA '06, I Am a Stranger Here Myself, University of New Mexico Press
- JoeAnne Hart MFA '00, Stamford '76: A True Story of Murder, Corruption, Race and Feminism in the 1970s, University of Iowa Press
- Amy Hempel, Faculty, Sing To It, Scribner
- Chelsea Hodson MFA '17, TBA
- Morgan Jerkins MFA '16, Why We Get Out, Harper
- Matthew Landrum MFA '10, Berlin Poems, SPD Books
- Melissa McInerney MFA '15, Good Works Review 2019, FutureCycle Press (contributor)
- Rena J. Mosteirin MFA '18 and James E. Dobson, Moonbit, Punctum Books
- Oona Patrick MFA '01, Behind the Stars, More Stars: New Luso-American Writing (co-editor), UMass Press
- Hugh Ryan MFA '09, When Brooklyn Was Queer: A History, St. Martin's Press
- Niloufar Talebi MFA '05, Self-Portrait in Bloom, L'Aleph
- Clifford Thompson, Faculty, What It Is: Race, Family and One Thinking Black Man's Blues, Other Press
- Brent Terry MFA '01, Troubadour Logic, Main Street Rag
- Claire Vaye Watkins, Faculty, The Future is Feminist, Chronicle Books (contributor)
2019 Upcoming Undergraduate Alumni and Faculty Publications
- Kathleen Alcott, Visiting Faculty, America Was Hard to Find, Ecco Press
- Summer Brennan '01, High Heel, Bloomsbury Academic
- Bret Easton Ellis '86, White, Knopf
- Bruna Dantas Lobato '15, Moldy Strawberries: Stories by Caio Fernando Abreu (translator)
- Anais Duplan '14, Blackspace
- Anna Maria Hong, Faculty, Fablesque, Tupelo Press (Berkshire Prize Winner)
- Roxana Robinson '68, Dawson's Fall, Sarah Crichton Books
- Natalie Scenters-Zapico, Faculty, Lima: Limon, Copper Canyon Press
Read a book we've missed? Share it with Communications, and we'll add it to our list.