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Laura Long, Ph.D.

Dr. Laura LongSchool of Humanities and Social Sciences
Associate Professor, English Department
Director, Graduate Program in English
Carnegie 223
434.544.8553
long_l@lynchburg.edu

Degrees/Certifications

  • Ph.D., University of Houston, Creative Writing and Literature, 2000
  • M.A., University of Texas at Austin, English/ Creative Writing
  • M.A., University of Texas at Austin, Cultural Anthropology/ Folklore
  • B.A., Oberlin College, English/ Creative Writing

Experience

  • 2006 - present - Associate Professor, Lynchburg College
  • 2004-05 - Assistant Professor, Lynchburg College
  • 2000-2004 - Assistant Professor, Sul Ross State University, Alpine, Texas
  • 2001-2004 - Director, Borderland Writers in the Schools, Alpine, Texas
  • Creative Writing Teacher, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, 1997-2000; at the Menil Collection and in inner-city classrooms, Houston, 1995-97, for Writers in the Schools (WITS)

*Additional teaching at University of Houston; University of Texas at Austin and St. Edward's University

Teaching Areas

Graduate

Seminar in Fiction
Seminar in Poetry
Lyrical Prose
Creative Writing
Teaching Creative Writing
Independent Studies: The Visual Art of Short Fiction; Poetry and Contemporary Culture; The Bible as Literature

Undergraduate

Senior Seminar in English (Theme: Intersections of Art and Life)
Creative Writing: Poetry
Modern Poetry
Creative Writing: Nonfiction
Intro to Creative Writing
Humanities Seminar in Literature (Westover Honors Program)
Literature and Culture II
Composition I and II
Independent Study: Creative Writing: Lyrical Fiction

Additional courses taught at Sul Ross State U, and U. Houston: Contemporary Literature; Multicultural Literature; Native American Literature; Introduction to Drama

Publications

Sometimes pen name: Laura Longsong

Book
Fiction and Poetry in Literary Magazines
  • Fiction: "A Postcard for Regina," Shenandoah: The Washington and Lee University Review, forthcoming. Finalist, Bevel Summers Award.
  • Poem: "Gloss (Caroline Herschel, 1783)," 32 Poems Magazine, forthcoming
  • Fiction: "Dark Early," Still: The Journal, 6, Summer 2011.
  • Fiction: "No Souvenirs," Clapboard House Literary Journal, 8 (Issue in Honor of Eudora Welty), Spring 2010. Chosen as a "Notable Story of 2010," by storySouth Million Writers Award.
  • Fiction: "Out of Peel Tree," Anthology of Appalachian Writers, Volume 2. Edited by Sylvia Shurbutt, et al. Appalachian Heritage Writers Project, Shepardstown, West Virginia, 2010.
  • Fiction; "What to Keep, What to Toss," Arts & Letters: Journal of Contemporary Culture, Spring 2009. Also selected to appear as a featured story online.
  • Fiction: "Nerve," New Orleans Review, 34.2, Spring 2009.

Additional publications in Southern Review, FICTION, Cimarron Review, and other magazines

Reviews of Fiction and Poetry
  • "Attuned to the River: The Safety of Deeper Water: A Novel by Tim Poland." Appalachian Heritage, Winter 2010. Republished online in Project Muse.
  • "Lasting Radiance: Inflorescence: Poems by Sarah Hannah." American Book Review, Nov/Dec 2008. Republished online in Britannica Online Encyclopedia
  • "Multiple Lives, Somewhere: Tell Borges if You See Him: Tales of Contemporary Somnambulism" by Peter LaSalle," Arts & Letters: Journal of Contemporary Culture, Spring 2008.
  • "A Luster and a Taint: Strange as This Weather Has Been by Ann Pancake," Appalachian Heritage, Winter 2008. Republished online in Project Muse
Essays on Writing and Teaching
  • "Words into Pictures: Challenges and Solutions, " in Mary Biddinger, ed., Associated Writing Programs Pedagogy Papers 2007. Fairfax: George Mason University, 2007
  • "Recreating the Reality of Fantasy: An Exercise at the Intersection of Fiction and Non- Fiction, " in Amy Leahy, ed., Associated Writing Programs Pedagogy Papers 2004. Fairfax: George Mason University, 2004
  • "I Am a Smashing Icebreaker," in Kathleen Leo, ed., Associated Writing Programs Pedagogy Papers 2002. Fairfax: George Mason University, 2002

Presentations

  • Creative Writing Readings: over a dozen in various locations, 2009--present
  • Panelist, "Appalachia and Regional Writing," West Virginia Wesleyan, 2011
  • "Riddle and Saddle: Sustaining Fusions of Writing and Teaching." Associated Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) Annual Conference, 2011
  • "A Poetics of Life Writing, Interrupted: Caroline Herschel and Telling Fragments" Seventh Biennial International Auto/Biography Conference (IABA), U. Sussex, England, 2010.
  • Presentations at Creative Writing Pedagogy Roundtable, Associated Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) Annual Conference: 2002, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2010
  • "Collage Effects in Poems from Brazil: A Workshop for Writing Teachers." Writers in the Schools (WITS) Annual Orientation, Houston, 2009
  • "Coal and Roses: Brutality and Beauty in West Virginia." Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE) Biennial Conference. Spartanburg, S.C., 2007
  • "Caroline Herschel's Lives: Questions of Interpretation." Panel: "Autobiography and Biography." South Central Modern Language Association (SCMLA). Memphis, 2007
  • "Digression as Destination: Broken Languages and Postmodern Pilgrims in Zadie Smith's The Autograph Man." South Central Modern Language Association (SCMLA). New Orleans, 2004
  • "The Dynamic Nature of the Natural World in Cormac McCarthy's All the Pretty Horses." Desert Crossings: Special Symposium, Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE). Big Bend National Park, 2001

Awards and Honors

  • Guest Faculty, West Virginia Wesleyan MFA Program, 2011
  • Residency Fellowships, Virginia Center for Creative Arts (VCCA), 2006, 2010, 2011
  • Mednick Memorial Fellowship, Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges, 2010
  • Invited Participant, Creative writing workshops with Ruth Padel (poetry) and Michelene Wandor (mixed genres), University of Sussex, England, 2010
  • Invited Participant, San Miguel Poetry Week, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, 2010

  • Keynote Address, "Creative Writing as Re-invention," Writers in the Schools Annual Orientation. Houston, Texas, 2009

  • Pforzheimer Fellowship, Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, Austin, 2008

  • Seminar Institute in Literary Studies: Readings in the King James Bible. (Nationally competitive.) National Humanities Center, North Carolina, 2007

  • James Michener Fellowship for Fiction

  • Donald Barthelme Fellowship for Fiction

  • Individual Artist Fellowship, Texas Commission on the Arts

  • PEN-Texas Award

  • Artist Residencies at U-Cross Foundation and Hedgebrook Cottages

Professional Affiliations

  • Associated Writers and Writing Programs (AWP)
  • Association for the Study of Literature and Environment (ASLE)
  • Modern Language Association (MLA)
  • International Auto/Biography Association (IABA)