Nicholas MontemaranoAlumni Professor of Creative Writing and Belles Lettres, Professor of English
Biography
I was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Queens. As a first-generation college student, I intended to major in engineering but fell in love with writing. I majored in English with a double concentration in literature and creative writing, then earned an M.F.A. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Since then, I have published a book of short stories and three novels, most recently The Senator's Children (Tin House Books, 2017). I have published over 40 short stories in magazines including Esquire, Zoetrope: All-Story, Tin House, The Southern Review, AGNI, and The Gettysburg Review. One of my stories was reprinted in The Pushcart Prize and four others were cited as distinguished stories in The Best American Short Stories. I'm grateful to have received fellowships from The National Endowment for the Arts, the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, MacDowell, Yaddo, the Edward F. Albee Foundation, and the Bread Loaf Writers鈥� Conference.
My most recent book, a memoir in verse, If There Are Any Heavens, was published in 2022 by Persea Books.
I have been a professor at F&M since 2002. I believe that almost every aspect of writing can be learned through close reading, practice, and paying attention. Those aspects of writing that can't be taught鈥攃ourage and vision鈥攃an be modeled and encouraged. My workshops are safe spaces that value freedom of expression, respect, support, and risk. There are stories and poems you are singularly positioned to write, and my goal as a teacher is to help you locate and write them as well as you can.
My favorite book is Jesus' Son by Denis Johnson.
Books
If There Are Any Heavens: A Memoir (Persea Books, 2022)
The Senator's Children: a novel (Tin House Books, 2017)
The Book of Why: a novel (Little, Brown, 2013)
If the Sky Falls: stories (LSU Press, 2005)
A Fine Place: a novel (Context Books, 2002)
Read
- of The Senator's Children from The New York Times
- of The Book of Why from The Washington Post
- of If the Sky Falls from The New York Times Book Review
- of A Fine Place from The Chicago Tribune
- with Eric Puchner from Poets and Writers
- from Los Angeles Review of Books on grief memoirs
- "Feeding the Lake," an from The Huffington Post
Course Taught
- ENG225: Intro to Creative Writing
- ENG250: Contemporary American Short Story
- ENG263: Contemporary American Novel
- ENG271: Contemporary Autobiography
- ENG371: Novel Writing
- ENG381: Writing Fiction
- ENG480: Advanced Creative Writing Workshop.