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Melanie Bishop, M.F.A. - Faculty
928-350-2207
220 Grove Ave
Prescott, AZ 86301
Manzanita
Melanie Bishop is currently on sabbatical.
Contact with this person may be limited!
Academic Statement (Return to top)
While Melanie's MFA is in fiction writing, she also writes creative nonfiction and screenplays. She's been on the faculty at Prescott College for twenty years, during which she's witnessed and participated in the rapid growth of the Arts & Letters Program. What really excites Melanie about the teaching and learning that goes on at Prescott College are the small classes, the richness of the relationships with students, and the opportunties made available through practicum courses. If a student in writing and literature were to take advantage of all the practicum courses, at the time of graduation that student would have worked on the staff of an award-winning regional newspaper, worked on the staff of an award-winning national literary magazine, taught a creative writing class in the community, and written her/his first book. These are the things that distinguish our degree from others at like institutions. There's nowhere Melanie would rather teach than Prescott College.
Background & Experience
Selected Publications (Return to top)
Fiction:
"Taking Care of Calvin," Florida Review, Fall//Winter 1990, Vol. XVII, No. 2, pages 120-131.
"Sisterhood," Glimmer Train
"Neighbors," Glimmer Train
"The Kind of Girl I Was," Glimmer Train
"Resolutions," Puerto del Sol
"Stings," Greensboro Review
"Necessary Volume," Georgetown Review
Nonfiction:
"My Father's Legacy," Family Circle
Research (Return to top)
Research interests:
Women's literature, Latin American literature in translation, adapting short stories to the screen, memoir and the issues brought up by teaching memoir in the college classroom, literary magazines.
Awards, Grants, & Honors (Return to top)
For Home for Wayward Girls, a story cycle (also entered under title The Kind of Girl I Was):
Finalist, Tartt Fiction Award, University of West Alabama Press, 2011.
Finalist, Doris Bakwin Award, Carolina Wren Press, 2011.
Finalist, Mary McCarthy Prize in Fiction, Sarabande Books, 2010.
Finalist in Fiction, The Iowa Prize, University of Iowa Press, 2010.
For individual stories in the cycle:
Finalist, Family Matters Contest, Glimmer Train, 2010
Finalist, Fiction Open, Glimmer Train, 2010
Finalist, The Fish Short Story Prize, Fish Press, Ireland, 2010
Finalist, A.E. Coppard Prize in Fiction, White Eagle Coffee Store Press, 2010
Finalist, Fiction Open, Glimmer Train, 2011
Awards for Alligator Juniper, literary magazine:
Three-time winner of the AWP Directors' Prize for Undergraduate Literary Magazines.
Grants:
Two Career Advancement Grants from The AZ Commission on the Arts
Writers' residencies at Hedgebrook, Hambidge Center for the Arts, Ucross, Eastern Frontier Society's Norton Island Retreat
Screenwriting Grant from The Wendy Fort Foundation for Dance, Literature and Film
Chesterfield Screenwriting Fellowship, from The Writers' Film Project
The Transatlantic Review Award, from the Henfield Foundation
CLMP Seed Grant for Alligator Juniper
Honors:
Nominee for The George Garrett Award for Outstanding Community Service in Literature, 2008
Education (Return to top)
B.A. Prescott College, 1986
M.F.A. University of Arizona, 1992
Chesterfield Screenwriting Fellowship, sponsored by Universal Pictures and Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment. Year-long training in writing for the screen.
Expertise (Return to top)
Literary magazines
Screenwriting
Fiction writing
Writing and teaching the memoir
Service Learning
Academic Involvement at Prescott College (Return to top)
Programs/Degrees
- On-Campus Undergraduate Programs
- Limited-Residency Master of Arts Program
Areas of Study
- Women's Studies
- Creative Writing
- Interdisciplinary Arts & Letters
- Literature
- Writing and Literature
- Creative or Expressive Arts
Prescott College Trivia
