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- Detailed Information
Helen Phillips
Associate Professor
English
Location: 3108 Boylan Hall
Phone: 718.951.5000 x3646
Fax: 718.951.4612
Email:
Helen Phillips is the author of six books, including the novel THE NEED (Simon & Schuster, 2019), which was long-listed for the National Book Award and was a New York Times Notable Book of 2019. Her short story collection SOME POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS (Henry Holt, 2016) received the John Gardner Fiction Book Award. Her novel THE BEAUTIFUL BUREAUCRAT (Henry Holt, 2015), a New York Times Notable Book of 2015, was a finalist for The Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the New York Public Library's Young Lions Award. Her first book, the collection AND YET THEY WERE HAPPY (Leapfrog Press, 2011), was named a Notable Book by The Story Prize. She is also the author of a children's adventure novel. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship, a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer's Award, The Iowa Review Nonfiction Award, and the Italo Calvino Prize. Her work has appeared in The Atlantic and The New York Times, and on Selected Shorts. Her forthcoming novel is entitled HUM.
Education:
M.F.A. , Brooklyn College - 2007 (Fiction)
B.A., Yale University - 2004 (Latin American Studies)
Areas of Expertise:
Helen Phillips is the award-winning author of various works of fiction and nonfiction, including the novels THE NEED and THE BEAUTIFUL BUREAUCRAT, and the short story collections SOME POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS and AND YET THEY WERE HAPPY. She is the recipient of a 2020 Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship. Her forthcoming novel is entitled HUM.
Books and Publications
HUM: A Novel (forthcoming from Marysue Rucci Books at Scribner) (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2024
And Yet They Were Happy (Leapfrog Press, 2011), a collection, re-released by Leapfrog Press in Fall 2022 (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2022
Small Odysseys: Selected Shorts Presents 35 New Stories (Algonquin, 2022): anthology includes story "The Double Life of the Cockroach's Wife" (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2022
Book of the Month (January 2021): "Why I Love It: The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr." (a brief review of The Prophets) (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2021
Ploughshares (issue guest-edited by Laura van den Berg, Vol. 47.1, Spring 2021) published short story "How I Came to Understand" (Books and Publications: Other) 2021
The New York Times Book Review (April 6, 2021): "Jeff VanderMeer Wants to Show You How the World Ends" (a review of the novel Hummingbird Salamander by Jeff VanderMeer) (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2021
Grand Journal (debut issue, October 2020): "Everything is OK. Everything is not OK.: Helen Phillips interviews Etgar Keret" (Books and Publications: Other) 2020
The London Sunday Times published essay: "My Baldness is the Vulnerability that I Own" (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2020
THE NEED: A Novel (published in France by Sonatine Éditions/Cherche-Midi) (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2020
THE NEED: A Novel (published in Italy by Safarà Editore) (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2020
THE NEED: A Novel (published in Lithuania by Balto) (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2020
THE NEED: A Novel (published in Poland by Proszynski Media) (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2020
The textbook CLIMATE ACTION by Susann Albeck & Inge Jakobsen (Systime Publishers, 2020) will include Helen's story "The Disaster Store," originally published in Guernica Magazine (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2020
Electric Literature (Sept. 18, 2019): "Helen Phillips Recommends 'Pineapple Crush' by Etgar Keret" (Books and Publications: Other) 2019
Poets & Writers (July/August 2019): Interview with debut novelist De'Shawn Charles Winslow (Books and Publications: Other) 2019
Publishers Weekly published essay: "The Best Book You've Never Read is Pieces for the Left Hand by J. Robert Lennon" (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2019
THE NEED: A Novel (published in South Korea by Munhakdongne Publishing Group) (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2019
THE NEED: A Novel (published in the UK by Chatto & Windus, 2019) (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2019
THE NEED: A Novel (Simon & Schuster, July 2019) (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2019
Chinese edition of SOME POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS (Faces Publications, 2018) (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2018
Engaged in Thought by Ellin Oliver Keene (Heinemann Books, 2018) features "Mother #5" from And Yet They Were Happy (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2018
Italian edition of SOME POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS (Safarà Editore, 2018) (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2018
O Magazine (Spring 2018): Review of CENSUS by Jesse Ball (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2018
Polish edition of THE BEAUTIFUL BUREAUCRAT (Proszynski, 2018) (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2018
Spanish edition of THE BEAUTIFUL BUREAUCRAT (Ediciones Siruela, 2018) (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2018
THE BEAUTIFUL BUREAUCRAT, UK mass market edition (ONE Press, 2018) (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2018
The Gigantic Book of Tiny Crimes: An Anthology (Catapult, 2018): "The Fifth of July" (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2018
Italian edition of THE BEAUTIFUL BUREAUCRAT (Safara Editore, 2017) (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2017
New York Times Book Review: Review of WAIT TILL YOU SEE ME DANCE by Deb Olin Unferth (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2017
Poets & Writers (May 23, 2017): "The Impossible Is Now Possible: A Conversation (Helen Phillips Interviews Barbara Gowdy)" (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2017
SOME POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS, US paperback edition (Picador, 2017) (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2017
UK edition of SOME POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS (Pushkin Press, 2017) (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2017
UK edition of THE BEAUTIFUL BUREAUCRAT (Pushkin Press, 2017) (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2017
Buzzfeed (June 30, 2016): "How to Plan for the Worst Day of Your Life" (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2016
LitHub (June 3, 2016): "Escaping the Self-Critical Eye for the Sake of My Daughter" (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2016
New York Times Book Review: Review of THE SLEEP GARDEN by Jim Krusoe (January 24) (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2016
SOME POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS: A Collection of Short Stories. Henry Holt, May 31, 2016 (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2016
New York Magazine's The Cut (July 10, 2015): "4 People, 650 Square Feet: A Love Story" (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2015
THE BEAUTIFUL BUREAUCRAT. Novel. Henry Holt. August 11, 2015. (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2015
The New York Times (July 28, 2015): "Four Women Bond Over the Beauty in Their Baldness" (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2015
"An Alien Education" (short story) anthologized in Gigantic Worlds. Gigantic Books. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2014
Brooklyn Magazine (Volume 3, Number 1, March 2013): "Shelter: An Essay" (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2013
Texts and Lessons for Teaching Literature by Harvey Daniels and Nancy Steineke (Heinemann Books, 2013) features"We #5" and "Fight #3" from And Yet They Were Happy (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2013
UPSIDE DOWN IN THE JUNGLE. Chicken House Press, United Kingdom; Chicken House Press, Germany. (U.K./German publication of HERE WHERE THE SUNBEAMS ARE GREEN) (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2013
HERE WHERE THE SUNBEAMS ARE GREEN. Middle-grade adventure novel. Delacorte Press/Random House Children's Division. (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2012
AND YET THEY WERE HAPPY. Intergenre collection. Leapfrog Press. (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2011
The Iowa Review (Volume 41, Issue #3, December 2011): "Life Care Center" (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2011
American Fiction (anthology), Volume 11: The Best Previously Unpublished Short Stories by Emerging Authors (New Rivers Press, 2010): "Twenty Tales of Natural Disaster" (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2010
Creative Work
Book Launch for the paperback edition of The Need, in remote conversation with paleobotanist Sarah E. Allen, The Center for Fiction, Brooklyn, NY (July 1, 2020) 2020
Boswell Book Company, in virtual conversation with bookseller Daniel Goldin, Milwaukee, WI (October 5, 2020) 2020
Greenpeace reprinted short story "Drought #7" from AND YET THEY WERE HAPPY as part of their #ClimateVisionaries Artists' Project Series 2020
Madison Street Books, in virtual conversation with Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl), Chicago, IL (September 1, 2020) 2020
O Magazine published short story "Money or Mystery" 2020
PRI's Studio 360: "Aha Moment (Kafka's 'The Metamorphosis'): An Interview with Helen Phillips" (released March 28, 2019) 2019
Short story "The Disaster Store" published in Guernica Magazine's special issue on Climate Fiction (March 18, 2019) 2019
Edge Effects podcast: "Why All Fiction Should Be Climate Fiction: A Conversation with Lauren Groff, interviewed by Helen Phillips" (posted August 21, 2018) 2018
New Limestone Review (September 2017): "Lilm" and "The Impossible Angle" 2017
PRI's Selected Shorts ("Recommended Reading with Electric Literature," performed at Symphony Space on April 26, 2017, and broadcast on Public Radio International): "The Knowers" 2017
TASTE Magazine (Fall 2017): "The Wedding Stairs" 2017
Washington Square Review (October 2017): "It Should Be" 2017
"Children," Tin House (Vol. 17, Number 2, Issue #66) 2016
"Deadling," an excerpt from THE BEAUTIFUL BUREAUCRAT, published in The Scofield (Doppelgangers, Issue 1.3) 2016
"The Doppelgangers," short story published in Electric Literature, April 2016 2016
"The MyMan Solution," performed and recorded at Symphony Space 2/8/16 as part of new podcast, Too Hot For Radio 2016
"The Normal Person," Time Out New York (fiction issue, March 16-22) 2016
"The Wall," The Atlantic Monthly (April issue) 2016
"Honey I Twisted." Short story commissioned by Symphony Space, featured on PRI's Selected Shorts. 2015
"In the world where everyone must choose how s/he dies", F(r)iction (Issue 3) 2015
"One of us will be happy; it's just a matter of which one." The Fairy Tale Review, Mauve issue, Spring. 2015
"Someplace," included in the anthology Dream Closet (ed. Matthew Burgess, Secretary Press) 2015
"The Beekeeper" (short story). Isthmus 2, Fall. 2014
"Wife #5" (flash fiction from And Yet They Were Happy) featured in Draft: The Journal of Process IV, Spring. 2014
"The Knowers," short story published in Electric Literature (September 2013) 2013
Brooklyn Museum: A piece written in response to the Luce Center for American Art at the Brooklyn Museum was featured in artist Michael Ballou's Raw/Cooked Exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum (on display April 12, 2013 through July 7, 2013): "You Made Such Beautiful Things from Pewter and Plastic and Clay, But Even So You Died" 2013
PANK (June 2013): "The Paste-and-Scissors Man" 2013
PRI's Selected Shorts (commissioned piece performed at Symphony Space in April 2012 and broadcast on Public Radio International in Fall 2012): "The Messy Joy of the Final Throes of the Dinner Party" 2012
The Pinch (Issue 32.2, September 2012): "When the tsunami came" 2012
Tin House (Issue #54, December 2012): "Flesh and Blood" 2012
BOMB (Issue #117, Fall 2011): "Chai Wan Four" 2011
Brooklyn Magazine (debut issue, March 2011): "Lux et Veritas" 2011
DIAGRAM (June 2011): "Things We Do" 2011
PEN America (Issue #13, Fall 2010): "The Disappearing Bride and Other Stories" 2010
Meridian (Issue #23, 2009): "The Eyeballs of Cecile" 2009
Salt Hill (Issue #23, 2009): "The Regimes" 2009
Faultline (Volume 17, Spring 2008): "Five Wedding Tales"
2008
Mississippi Review (Volume 36, Numbers 1&2, Spring 2008): "The Joined" 2008
Residency at the Ucross Foundation, Clearmont, WY 2008
L Magazine (Summer Fiction Issue, Aug. 16-29, 2006): "Wilderness" 2006
Awards, Honors and Fellowships
Brooklyn College Award for Excellence in Creative Achievement (Awards and Honors) 2021
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship (Awards and Honors) 2020
National Book Award Longlist, THE NEED (Awards and Honors) 2019
THE NEED was named a New York Times Notable Book of 2019 (Awards and Honors) 2019
CUNY Book Completion Award (to support the completion of THE NEED) (Awards and Honors) 2018
Humanities and Social Sciences Travel Fund, Brooklyn College School of Humanities and Social Sciences (Grants and Fellowships) 2018
Stewart Travel Award from the CUNY Academy for the Humanities and Sciences
(Grants and Fellowships) 2018
SOME POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS receives the Binghamton University John Gardner Fiction Book Award (2017) (Awards and Honors) 2017
THE BEAUTIFUL BUREAUCRAT was long-listed for the Brooklyn Eagles Literary Prize (Awards and Honors) 2016
THE BEAUTIFUL BUREAUCRAT was one of five finalists for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Fiction (Awards and Honors) 2016
THE BEAUTIFUL BUREAUCRAT was one of five finalists for the New York Public Library's Young Lions Award (Awards and Honors) 2016
THE BEAUTIFUL BUREAUCRAT was long-listed for The Center for Fiction's Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize (Awards and Honors) 2015
Mrs. Giles Whiting Fellowship for Excellence in Teaching in the Humanities (Awards and Honors) 2014
AND YET THEY WERE HAPPY is a semifinalist for the VCU Cabell Award (2012) (Awards and Honors) 2012
AND YET THEY WERE HAPPY is a finalist for the McLaughlin-Esstman-Stearns Prize (2011) (Awards and Honors) 2011
DIAGRAM Innovative Fiction Prize: "Things We Do" (Awards and Honors) 2011
The Iowa Review Nonfiction Award: "Life Care Center" (Awards and Honors) 2011
Meridian Editors' Prize: "The Eyeballs of Cecile" (Awards and Honors) 2009
Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer's Award (Awards and Honors) 2009
The Italo Calvino Prize in Fabulist Fiction: "The Regimes" (Awards and Honors) 2008
Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums
Hudson Valley Writers' Center, Master Class on Flash Fiction: "Build a Moment, Build a World" (remote), Sleepy Hollow, NY (August 13, 2022) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2022
Kenyon Review Summer Online Writing Workshop in Speculative Fiction, Faculty, remote, Kenyon College, Gambier, OH (June 20-25, 2022)
(Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2022
Festival Neue Literatur, panelist on "Alternate Realities" with contemporary European authors (from Germany, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein), remote event, New York, NY (November 14, 2021) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2021
Hudson Valley Writers' Center, Master Class on Flash Fiction: "Build a Moment, Build a World" (remote), Sleepy Hollow, NY (October 16, 2021) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2021
Boston Book Festival, panelist for "Motherhood" (with Kate Walbert and Linda Boström Knausgård), Boston, MA (Oct. 19, 2019) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2019
Brooklyn Book Festival, panelist for "Family Under Fire," Brooklyn, NY (Sept. 22, 2019) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2019
Franklin Park Reading Series, Brooklyn, NY (July 8, 2019) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2019
House of Speakeasy: Seriously Entertaining, Joe's Pub at the Public Theater, New York, NY (September 17, 2019) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2019
Hudson Valley Writers Center, event with Susan Choi, Sleepy Hollow, NY (November 1, 2019) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2019
Launch for Guernica Magazine's Special Issue on Climate Change, in conversation with writers, artists, scientists, anthropologists, and environmental justice scholars including Ken Chen, Karen Holmberg, Nathan Kensinger, Eugenia Kisin, Pitchaya Sudbanthad, and Jerome Whitington, at New York University Gallatin School of Individualized Study, New York, NY (April 22, 2019) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2019
Launch for Guernica Magazine's Special Issue on Climate Change, in conversation with writers, artists, scientists, anthropologists, and environmental justice scholars including Ken Chen, Karen Holmberg, Nathan Kensinger, Eugenia Kisin, Pitchaya Sudbanthad, and Jerome Whitington, at New York University Gallatin School of Individualized Study, New York, NY (April 22, 2019) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2019
Library Journal Day of Dialog at John Jay College of Criminal Justice: "The Literary Thriller," panelist, New York, NY (May 29, 2019) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2019
Library Journal Day of Dialog at John Jay College of Criminal Justice: "Thriller Quest" panelist along with Kalisha Buckhanon, Catherine Ryan Howard, Chris Pavone, Riley Sager, and Karin Slaughter, New York, NY (May 29, 2019) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2019
LIC Reading Series, LIC Bar, Long Island City, NY (December 10, 2019) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2019
Major Author Reading Series, Manhattan College, Riverdale, NY (October 24, 2019) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2019
National Book Awards at the Miami Book Fair, "An Evening with the National Book Award Winners, Finalists, and Longlisters," Miami, FL (Nov. 22-23, 2019) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2019
PEN America World Voices Festival, Literary Quest: Westbeth Edition, reader (May 9, 2019) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2019
Sleepy Hollow Lit Fest, Sleepy Hollow, NY (May 18, 2019) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2019
Slice Literary Conference, panelist for "Anywhere But Here: Building Worlds in Fiction," Brooklyn, NY (Sept. 7, 2019) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2019
Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) Conference, panelist for "Finding the Understory" (with Mia Alvar, Ramona Ausubel, Laura van den Berg, and Deb Olin Unferth) and panelist for "Stranger and Truthier than Truth: Fiction in the Age of Trump" (with Marie-Helene Bertino, Toni Jensen, Manuel Gonzalez, and Kelly Link), Tampa, FL (March 8-10, 2018) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2018
Binghamton Center for Writers, guest lecturer & visiting author as recipient of 2017 John Gardner Book Award in Fiction for Some Possible Solutions, Binghamton, NY (February 27-28, 2018) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2018
Brooklyn Book Festival, panelist for "Children of Le Guin" (with N.K. Jemisin and Maria Dahvana Headley, moderated by Alice Sola Kim), Brooklyn, NY (Sept. 16, 2018) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2018
New York Society Library, Art & Activism of the Anthropocene Series: "Imagining the Impossible: The Role of Art and Novels in Understanding Climate Change," panelist, New York, NY (May 9, 2018) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2018
Tiny Crimes Anthology Launch Reading, Housing Works, New York, NY (June 5, 2018) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2018
YaleNYC Reading, Shakespeare & Co, New York, NY (June 6, 2018) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2018
Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) Conference, panelist ("Writing the Abyss: Turning Grim Reality into Good Fiction"), Washington, DC (Feb. 2017) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2017
Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) Conference, reading participant ("Crafty: Four CUNY MFA Graduates Read From Their Work), Washington, DC (Feb. 2017) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2017
Brooklyn College Science Retreat, guest speaker on "cli-fi" (climate fiction), Brooklyn, New York (December 1, 2017) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2017
Festivaletteratura, "Helen Phillips with Marcello Fois: Le Cose Non Sono Mai Come Appaiono" for the Italian book launch of La Bella Burocrate, Mantova, Italy (September 8, 2017) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2017
Housing Works Book Store, panelist ("Beyond Orwell: Speculative Literature and Political Unrest"), New York, NY (Feb. 2017) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2017
Seton Hall University Poetry-in-the-Round Series, guest author, South Orange, NJ (Nov. 30, 2017) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2017
Undergraduate Ethics Symposium at the Janet Prindle Institute for Ethics at DePauw University, keynote speaker, Greencastle, IN (April 2017) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2017
Whiting Seminar, Wolfe Institute at Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, NY (Mar. 9, 2017)
(Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2017
Brooklyn Book Festival, panelist ("Something Strange in the Neighborhood" with Kaitlyn Greenidge and J. Robert Lennon), Brooklyn, NY (Sept. 2016) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2016
Panel with novelists Sara Novic and Stephen O'Connor, Los Angeles Times Festival of Books (Los Angeles, CA) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2016
Slice Literary Conference, panelist ("Elements of the Story"), Brooklyn, NY (Sept. 2016) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2016
Wordstock: Portland's Book Festival, panelist (with Jonathan Lethem and Dana Spiotta), Portland, OR (Nov. 2016) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2016
BookExpo America/BookCon, panelist ("One Book: From Author to Agent to Editor"), New York, NY (May 30, 2015) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2015
Panel with novelist Lauren Groff and critic Ira Silverberg, Texas Book Festival (Austin, TX) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2015
Panel with novelists Joshua Cohen and Jesse Ball, Miami Book Festival (Miami, FL) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2015
Panel with novelists Lev Grossman and Cecily Wong, Slice Literary Conference (Brooklyn, NY) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2015
Panel with novelists Ottessa Moshfegh and James Hannaham, Brooklyn Book Festival (Brooklyn, NY) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2015
Symphony Space, panelist ("Studio 360 Explores Franz Kafka's THE METAMORPHOSIS"), New York, NY (Oct. 2015) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2015
Symphony Space Thalia Kids' Book Club, guest author, New York, NY (July 2014) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2014
Yale University, panelist ("Pen and iPad: What's it like being a successful writer in this new age?"), New Haven, CT (May 2014) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2014
Symphony Space Thalia Kids' Book Club, guest author, New York, NY (Aug. 2013) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
Slice Literary Conference, panelist ("The Publication Process"), Brooklyn, NY (Sept. 2011) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2011
Professional Leadership
English Department Honors & Awards Committee Member (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2022
English Department Honors & Awards Committee Member (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2021
English Department Honors & Awards Committee Member (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2020
Community Activities
Brooklyn College Lifelong Learning Book Club, Reading from The Need plus Q&A (remote), Brooklyn, NY (July 15, 2021) 2021
Freedom Collection: Contributed four micro-essays (about One Hundred Years of Solitude, The Handmaid's Tale, Fever Dream, and Frankenstein) to the Freedom Reads project run by the Yale Law School Justice Collaboratory, to accompany the Freedom Collection, a selection of recommended books that will be installed in prisons and juvenile detention centers (October 2021) 2021
Brooklyn College Faculty Series: Building Community and Re-Connecting During COVID, reading of The Need with Q&A, hosted remotely by Brooklyn College's Academic Affairs, Brooklyn, NY (November 19, 2020) 2020
Master Class for Jersey City Writers: "Dystopian Flash Fiction," Jersey City, NJ (March 10, 2019) 2019
"Failure #1" from And Yet They Were Happy was incorporated into Symphony Space's All Write! Adult Literacy Program 2018
"So You Want to Be a Writer?" Career Panel for Students (sponsored by the Magner Career Center at Brooklyn College), panelist, Brooklyn, NY (November 13, 2018) 2018
"Wedding #5" from And Yet They Were Happy was incorporated into Symphony Space's All Write! Adult Literacy Program 2016
Bard High School Early College Library, guest author, Long Island City, NY (Nov. 2016) 2016
Cooke SKILLS Program, writer-in-residence (New York, NY): school for students with special needs 2015
Girls Write Now, guest lecturer (New York, NY): non-profit writing/mentoring program for teenage girls
2015
"Failure #1" (flash fiction from And Yet They Were Happy) incorporated into Symphony Space's All Write! adult literacy curriculum. 2014
"Far-Flung Families #9" (flash fiction from And Yet They Were Happy) incorporated into Symphony Space's All Write! adult literacy curriculum. 2014
J.H.S. 302/Random House's Adopt-a-School Program, writer-in-residence (Brooklyn, NY) 2013
Other Professional Activities
CUNY Turnstyle Reading Series, New York, NY (May 15, 2018) 2018
Pigeon Pages NYC Reading Series w/ Washington Square Review, PowerHouse Arena, Brooklyn, NY (March 25, 2018) 2018
Hudson Valley Writers' Center, Reading Series, Sleepy Hollow, NY (Apr. 30, 2017) 2017
Libreria Coop, Italian book launch event for La Bella Burocrate, Bologna, Italy (Sept. 9, 2017) 2017
LIC Reading Series, Long Island City, NY (Jan. 10, 2017) 2017
Rona Jaffe Foundation/Brooklyn Book Festival Bookend Event, reading with Kirstin Valdez Quade at Book Culture, New York, NY (Sept. 13, 2017) 2017