Institutional News
A Year in Books
December 7, 2018
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? Literature and Writing Program at Bennington is all about, or learn more about a Bennington Education in general by contacting our Admissions Office.
Cape Verdean Blues
By Shauna Barbosa MFA '17
Small Fry
By Lisa Brennan-Jobs MFA '09
We Love All the Beautiful Girls
By Joanne Proulx MFA '14
The Feral Detective
By Jonathan Lethem '86
Tangerine
By Christine Managan '04
Swell
By Jill Eisenstadt '85
Kim Adrian MFA '04, The Twenty-Seventh Letter of the Alphabet ,
Claire Clube MFA '08, Changlings & Omen Birds
Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Bandele MFA '99, When They Call You a Terrorist ,
Shauna Barbosa MFA '17, Cape Verdean Blues , University of Pittsburgh Press
AW Barnes MFA '17, The Dark Eclipse: Reflections on Suicide and Absence ,
Paul Beckman MFA '99, Kiss Kiss ,
Jenny Boully, BWS Faculty, Betwixt-and-Between: Essays on the Writing Life ,
Lauren Brazeal MFA '16, Gutter ,
Lisa Brennan-Jobs MFA '09, Small Fry ,
Elijah Burrell MFA '12, Troubler ,
Kurt Caswell MFA '04, Laika's Window: The Legacy of a Soviet Space Dog ,
Willa Carroll '97, MFA '11, Nerve Chorus ,
Alexander Chee, Former BWS Faculty, How to Write an Autobiographical Novel ,
Jasmin Darznik MFA '14, Song of a Captive Bird , Ballantine Books
Lauren Davis MFA '14, Each Wild Things Consent ,
Elizabeth Farrell MFA '07, Earlier Heaven ,
Carmen Giménez Smith, BWS Faculty, Cruel Futures, City Lights Publishers
Tami Haaland MFA '00, What Does Not Return ,
Lise Haines MFA '02, When We Disappear ,
Donald Hall, Former BWS Faculty, A Carnival of Losses: Notes Nearing Ninety
Christine Herzer MFA '09, Orange ,
Chelsea Hodson MFA '17, Tonight I'm Someone Else ,
Hannah Howard MFA '18, Feast: True Love In and Out of the Kitchen ,
Morgan Jerkins MFA '16, Well-Read Black Girl
Morgan Jerkins MFA '16, This Will Be My Undoing ,
Eugenia Kim MFA '01, The Kinship of Secrets ,
Brian Jerrold Koester MFA '16, Bossa Nova ,
Caroline Malone MFA '96, Dark Roots ,
Alice Mattison, BWS Faculty, Conscience ,
Leslie McGrath MFA '05, Feminists Are Passing from Our Lives ,
Tiffany Melanson MFA '15, 15 Views of Jacksonville
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 ,
Monica Minott MFA '18, Thicker Than Water: New Writing from the Caribbean ,
Miriam O'Neal MFA '99, We Start with What We're Given ,
Rolf Potts MFA '11, Souvenir ,
Joanne Proulx MFA '14, We All Love the Beautiful Girls
Jamie Quatro MFA '09, Fire Sermon ,
Sue Rainsford MFA '17, Follow Me to Ground ,
Ricky Ray MFA '20, Fealty: Poems , Eyewear
Judy Rowley MFA '02, Expected Home: A Memoir and a Mystery ,
Mark Sarvas MFA '19, Memento Park ,
Lynne Sharon Schwartz, BWS Faculty, Run For Your Life
Sarah Sousa MFA '09, See the Wolf ,
Clifford Thompson, BWS Faculty, 2018 Best American Essays
Randi Triant MFA '01, The Treehouse ,
Naomi Wax MFA '01 and Bill Shapiro, What We Keep ,
Carolyn Welch MFA '98, The Garden of Fragile Beings ,
Sandra Worsham MFA '06, Patterns ,
Gordon Robert Abrams '80, Charon's Ferry ,
Fran Antmann '69, Maya Healers: A Thousand Dreams ,
John Barr, Former Board Member/Interim President, Dante in China ,
Andrew Barton '09, The Myrtlewood Cookbook: Pacific Northwest Cooking ,
James D. Bloom '72, Reading the Male Gaze in Literature and Culture: Studies in Erotic Epistemology (Global Masculinities) ,
Wilma Kantrowich Chandler '60, Directing Theater 101: 10 Steps to Successful Productions for New Directors and Regional Theater Companies ,
Gioia Chilton '89, Positive Art Therapy Theory and Practice: Integrating Positive Psychology with Art Therapy ,
Noah Coburn, Faculty, Under Contract: The Invisible Workers of America's Global War ,
Margot Davis '65, Antigua 1967-73 , Nazraeli Press
Ruth Doan MacDougall '61, A Gunthwaite Girl Site Fidelity , Frigate Books
Jill Eisenstadt '85, Swell ,
Rima Faber '65, Thinking With the Dancing Brain: Embodying Neuroscience ,
Monica Ferrell, Faculty, You Darling Thing ,
James Geary '85, Wit's End: What Wit Is, How It Works, and Why We Need It ,
John Getchell '86, Sign of the Apocalypse ,
Karen Gover, Faculty, Art and Authority ,
Joseph Grantham '16, Tom Sawyer ,
Anna Maria Hong, Faculty, Age of Glass ,
Anna Maria Hong, Faculty, H & G ,
Chandler Klang Smith '05, The Sky is Yours ,
Rivera Sun '04, The Roots of Resistance
Jonathan Lethem '86, The Feral Detective ,
Florian Louisoder '82, Shockwave ,
Christine Managan '04, Tangerine ,
Radha Marcum '96, Bloodline ,
Jennifer Mieres '82, Heart Smart for Women ,
Ana Miljackiji '95, The Optimum Imperative: Czech Architecture for the Socialist Lifestyle, 1938–1968 , Routledge
Catherine Pikula '13, I'm Fine, How Are You ,
Michael Pollan '76, How to Change Your Mind ,
Betsy Robinson '73, The Practice: Dee and Bea's Quick & Easy Guide to the Enlightenment ,
Adi Tantimedh '88, Her Beautiful Monster
Leah Tieger '03, We and She, You and Then, You Again ,
Anne Waldman '66, Trickster Feminism ,
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
Fableseque
By Anna Maria Hong, faculty member
Lima/Limon
By Natalie Scenters-Zapico, faculty member
Coming May 2019
Jennifer Acker MFA '11, The Limits of the World ,
Sally Ashton MFA '03, The Behaviour of Clocks
Rebecca Balcårcel MFA '02, The Other Half of Happy ,
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
Melissa Febos, Faculty, What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About: Fifteen Writers Break the Silence
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
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, TBA
Morgan Jerkins MFA '16, Why We Get Out ,
Matthew Landrum MFA '10, Berlin Poems
Melissa McInerney MFA '15, Good Works Review 2019
Rena J. Mosteirin MFA '18 and James E. Dobson, Moonbit
Oona Patrick MFA '01, Behind the Stars, More Stars: New Luso-American Writing
Hugh Ryan MFA '09, When Brooklyn Was Queer: A History ,
Niloufar Talebi MFA '05, Self-Portrait in Bloom ,
Clifford Thompson, Faculty, What It Is: Race, Family and One Thinking Black Man's Blues ,
Brent Terry MFA '01, Troubadour Logic
Claire Vaye Watkins, Faculty, The Future is Feminist
Kathleen Alcott, Visiting Faculty, America Was Hard to Find ,
Summer Brennan '01, High Heel ,
Bret Easton Ellis '86, White ,
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 ,
Natalie Scenters-Zapico, Faculty, Lima: Limon ,
Read a book we've missed? Share it with Communications , and we'll add it to our list.
