Degrees

M.F.A. University of Massachusetts at Amherst
B.A. Tufts University

Research Area

Fiction Writing, Contemporary Fiction

Current Research

Story and Novel writing

Current Courses

English 122 Beginning Fiction Workshop
English 205 Advanced Fiction Workshop

Current Positions

Assistant Professor, Department of English

Previous Positions

Helen Herzog Zell Visiting Associate Professor, University of Michigan
Assistant Professor, University of Florida

Professional Societies

Associated Writing Programs
PEN American Center

Professional Honors

2005 Samuel Goldberg Award in Fiction, National Foundation for Jewish Culture
2004 NY Times Notable Book (The First Desire)
2004 Detroit Free Press Notable Book (The First Desire)
2005 O.Henry Award
2003 Bogliasco Foundation Fellowship
2001 Best American Short Stories selection ("Illumination")
2000 Florida Division of Cultural Affairs Literature Fellowship
1999/00, 1997/98 Fellowships, Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown
1999 Iowa Short Fiction Award
1998 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship
1996 Halls Fellowship, Wisconsin Institute for Creative Writing
1995 Rhode Island Literary Fellowship

Publications

The First Desire (novel), Pantheon, NY 2004
House Fires (short story collection), University of Iowa Press, Iowa City, IA 1999
Stories anthologized in O.Henry Award Stories 2005 (Anchor Books), Jewish in America (University of Michigan Press, 2004), Mother Knows: 24 Tales of Motherhood (Washington Square Press, 2004),Bestial Noise: A Tin House Reader (Bloomsbury Press, 2003), The Iowa Award: The Best Stories 1991-2000 (University of Iowa Press, 2001)

Individual stories published in Tin House , Five Points , Kenyon Review , Glimmer Train, Michigan Quarterly Review, New England Review , and other journals.