Institutional News
Words, Words, Words
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?
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.
Awards
Booklist's Top Ten New Novels of 2019
The 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 '21
Sing to It by Amy Hempel
National Book Awards Longlist for Poetry
Dunce by Mary Ruefle '74
Be Recorder by Carmen Giménez Smith
National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist
Dunce by Mary Ruefle '74
Poetry Society of America 2019 Chapbook Fellowship
Laura Cresté '13, forthcoming in 2020
2019 New Mexico/Arizona Book Award in Philosophy
Zozobra Poems by Jules Nyquist MFA '07
2019 Bennington Writing Seminars Publications
- Jennifer Acker MFA '11, The Limits of the World, Delphinium
- Sally Ashton MFA '03, The Behaviour of Clocks, WordFarm
- Sally Ashton MFA '03 and Amy Gerstler MFA '11, A Cast-Iron Aeroplane That Can Actually Fly, Madhat Press
- William Ayers MFA '02, about Becoming a Teacher, Teachers College Press
- Rebecca Balcårcel MFA '02, The Other Half of Happy, Chronicle Books
- Remica Bingham-Risher MFA '05, Of Color: Poets' Ways of Making (contributor)
- Julie E. Bloemeke MFA '01 and Tami Haaland MFA '00, A Constellation of Kisses, Terrapin Books (contributor)
- Mark Conway MFA '98, rivers of the driftless region, Four Way Books
- 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, University of Minnesota Press
- Jane Elkin MFA '18, What Remains: The Many Ways We Say Goodbye, Gelles-Cole Literature (contributor)
- Teresa Fazio MFA '18, Invisible Veterans: What Happens When Military Women Become Civilians, Praeger (contributor)
- Melissa Febos, Faculty, What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About: Fifteen Writers Break the Silence, Simon & Schuster (contributor)
- 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, Seal Press (contributor)
- Melissa Febos, Faculty, Eat Joy: Stories & Comfort Food from 31 Celebrated Writers, Black Balloon Publishing (contributor)
- Sean Gandert MFA '16, American Saint, 47North
- Amy Gerstler MFA '11 and Didi Jackson MFA '14, Best American Poetry 2019, Scribner (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
- Tami Haaland MFA '00, Healing the Divide: Poems of Kindness & Connection, Green Writers Press (contributor)
- 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, Pets, Softskull Press (contributor)
- Jenn Hollmeyer MFA '12, Orders of Protection, University of North Texas Press
- Joanna Kadish MFA '15, Awake in the World, V2, Riverfeet Press (contributor)
- Elizabeth Knapp MFA '00, Requiem with an Amulet in its Beak, Washington Writers Publishing House
- Matthew Landrum MFA '10, Berlin Poems, SPD Books
- Keith Lesmeister MFA '14, New Stories from the Midwest, New American Press (contributor)
- Denton Loving MFA '14, Step into the Circle: Writers in Modern Appalachia, Blair (contributor)
- Jill McCorkle, Faculty, Margaret Rich MFA '12, and Sharon Swanson MFA '07, Mothers and Strangers: Essays on Motherhood from the New South, UNC Press (contributor)
- Melissa McInerney MFA '15, Good Works Review 2019, FutureCycle Press (contributor)
- Rena J. Mosteirin MFA '18 and James E. Dobson, Moonbit, Punctum Books
- Rena J. Mosteirin MFA '18 and Sue Repko MFA '12, Lunation, Senile Monk (contributor)
- Jules Nyquist MFA '07, Zozobra Poems
- Oona Patrick MFA '01, Behind the Stars, More Stars: New Luso-American Writing (co-editor), UMass Press
- Ivy Pochoda MFA '11, Epocha: The Tree of Ecrof, Granity (collaboration with Kobe Bryant)
- Namrata Poddar MFA '16, Best Asian Short Stories 2019, Kitaab (contributor)
- Meaghan Quinn MFA '14, Slow Dance, Bullets, Route 7 Press
- Ricky Ray MFA '20, Fealty, Diode Editions (re-release)
- Irina Reyn MFA '06, Mother Country, Thomas Dunne Books
- Hugh Ryan MFA '09, When Brooklyn Was Queer: A History, St. Martin's Press
- Ricco Siasoco MFA '01, The Foley Artist, Gaudy Boy
- Sarah Sousa MFA '09, Yell, C&R Press
- Sarah Sousa MFA '09, Hex, Cow Creek
- Angelique Stevens MFA '17 and Clifford Thompson, Faculty, Apple, Tree, University of Nebraska Press (contributor)
- Dalena Storm MFA '15, The Hungry Ghost, Black Spot Books
- Niloufar Talebi MFA '05, Self-Portrait in Bloom, L'Aleph
- Niloufar Talebi MFA '05, HERE: Poems for the Planet, Copper Canyon (contributor/translator)
- Brent Terry MFA '01, Troubadour Logic, Main Street Rag
- Clifford Thompson, Faculty, What It Is: Race, Family and One Thinking Black Man's Blues, Other Press
- Clifford Thompson, Faculty, The Peanuts Papers, Library of America (contributor)
- Erin Trahan MFA '11, Independent Female Filmmakers, Routledge (contributor)
- Claire Vaye Watkins, Faculty, The Future is Feminist, Chronicle Books (contributor)
2019 MFA in Public Action Publication
- Caroline Woolard MFA '20, Making and Being, Pioneer Works Press
2019 Undergraduate Alumni and Faculty Publications
- Kathleen Alcott, Visiting Faculty, America Was Hard to Find, Ecco Press
- Summer Brennan '01, High Heel, Bloomsbury Academic
- Fran Bull '60, Choose Your Own Title, Damiani
- Bret Easton Ellis '86, White, Knopf
- Lis Harris '61, In Jerusalem: Three Generations of an Israeli Family and a Palestinian Family, Beacon Press
- Joan Price '65, Sex After Grief: Navigating Your Sexuality After Losing Your Beloved, Mango
- Roxana Robinson '68, Dawson's Fall, Sarah Crichton Books
- Mary Ruefle '74, Dunce, Wave Poetry
- Natalie Scenters-Zapico, Former faculty, Lima: Limon, Copper Canyon Press
- Amanda Sullivan '09, Breaking the STEM Stereotype: Reaching Girls in Early Childhood, Rowman & Littlefield
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
2020 Upcoming Bennington Writing Seminars Publications
- Jen Acker, The Poets & Writers Complete Guide to Being a Writer, Avid Reader Press (contributor)
- Sean Adams '08, The Heap, William Morrow
- 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 Harvest, 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, Doubleday/Scribner (UK & USA release)
- 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 Luck, Riverhead Books
2020 Upcoming Undergraduate Alumni and Faculty Publications
- 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.