Biography
David James Poissant is the author of THE HEAVEN OF ANIMALS: STORIES (Simon & Schuster, 2014), longlisted for the PEN / Robert W. Bingham Prize, winner of the GLCA New Writers Award and a Florida Book Award, and a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize. Poissant’s stories and essays have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, The Chicago Tribune, Glimmer Train, The New York Times, One Story, Playboy, Ploughshares, The Southern Review, and in several anthologies, including New Stories from the South and Best New American Voices. He is a winner of the Playboy College Fiction Contest, the RopeWalk Fiction Chapbook Prize, the George Garrett Fiction Award, the Matt Clark Prize, and the Alice White Reeves Memorial Award from the National Society of Arts & Letters. He teaches in the MFA program at the University of Central Florida and lives in Orlando with his wife and daughters. Currently, he is at work on a novel, also forthcoming from Simon & Schuster.
Education
- Ph.D. in English & Comparative Literature from University of Cincinnati (2011)
- M.F.A. in Creative Writing from University of Arizona (2007)
- B.A. in English from Berry College (2001)
Research Interests
- Fiction Writing
- The Short Story
- Contemporary American Literature
- Southern Literature
- Creative Writing Pedagogy
Publications
Books
- THE HEAVEN OF ANIMALS (Simon & Schuster) March, 2014
Articles/Essays
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“The Story of a Year,” Ecotone, Spring, 2015
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“Ten Books That Changed Your Life? The New List Trend,” The Good Men Project, September
15, 2014
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“On ‘Leaves,’ a Consideration of Happiness, Righteousness, and Grace (with Digressions),” The
John Updike Review, Vol. 3, No.1, Spring 2014
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“I Want to Be Friends With Republicans,” The New York Times, November 3, 2013
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“Fish, Girls, Flight,” Sundog Lit, February, 2013
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“The Ecstatic: On Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods,” Tin House, online, November 16, 2011
Creative Publications
- Forthcoming "The Baby Directs Brahms," The Southern Review
- Forthcoming "Tornado," Glimmer Train
- "The History of Flight," Serious Daring: Creative Writing in Four Genres
- “Refund,” One Story Collected
- “Lorelei,” Southern Indiana Review
- “Stealing Orlando,” Newfound Journal
- "Flight Patterns," Post Road
- “A Boyfriend, Obamacare, a Cat,” Post Road
- "Nathan," The Chattahoochee Review
- "Missed Connection," Columbia
- "Zugzwang," Tweeds
- “Amputee,” Glimmer Train
- “The History of Flight,” The Pinch
- “The Fox King,” Surreal South 2013
- “The Shape of Sleep,” Altered Scale
- “The End of Aaron,” Chicago Tribune: Printer’s Row
- “The Collector of Thoughts,” Gulf Coast
- “Monkey See,” Ploughshares
- “Lake,” Beloit Fiction Journal
- “The Hand Model,” Hayden’s Ferry Review
- “Last of the Great Land Mammals,” Washington Square
- “Black Ice,” Freight Stories
- “Nudists,” Five Chapters
- “Wake the Baby,” American Literary Review
- "First, Do No Harm," "Obituary," "Werewolf," Copper Nickel
- "Away," 15 Views of Orlando
- “Box of Rain,” Sawmill Magazine
- “The Fox King,” The Fairy Tale Review
- “The Baby Glows,” New Stories from the Midwest 2011
- Lizard Man, Winner: RopeWalk Press Fiction Chapbook Prize
- “The Disappearing Boy,” The Good Men Project
- "Refund," One Story
- "How to Help Your Husband Die," Notre Dame Review
- "100% Cotton," The Southern Review
- "The Cost of Living," The Mississippi Review
- "Lake in Winter," Iron Horse Literary Review
- "Measuring the Drop," The Greensboro Review
- “This is My Body,” The Pinch
- “Between the Teeth,” Press 53 Awards Anthology
- “Between the Teeth,” What Doesn’t Kill You
- "The Heaven of Animals," The Atlantic
- “The Baby Glows,” The Southern Review
- "The Caterer," New Delta Review
- “What the Wolf Wants,” West Branch
- “Lizard Man,” Best New American Voices 2010
- “First Love,” Southern Indiana Review
- “Lizard Man,” New Stories from the South 2008
- “Lizard Man,” Playboy
- “Venn Diagram,” Best New American Voices 2008
- “Knockout,” Redivider
- “The Geometry of Despair,” The Chicago Tribune
- “Between the Teeth,” Willow Springs
- “Cooking Lessons,” The Chattahoochee Review
Awards
Finalist, Los Angeles Times Book Prize
Long List, PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize
Winner, 2015 GLCA New Writers Award
Silver Medal, Florida Books Awards
An Amazon 2014 Best Book of the Year
An Amazon 2014 Top Twenty Story Collection of the Year
Best Short Story Collection of 2014, Tweed’s Magazine
9 Best Books of 2014, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 2014
Out Now Pick, The Washington Post, 2014
Must-Read Pick, New York Post, 2014
The Kirkus Star: “Awarded to Books of Exceptional Merit,” Kirkus Reviews, 2014
Most Anticipated Books of 2014, The Millions
D.H. Lawrence Fellow, Taos Summer Writers’ Conference, 2015
Walter E. Dakin Fellow, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, 2014
Teaching Fellow, Wesleyan Writers Conference, 2014
Scholar, Tin House Summer Writer’s Conference, 2013
In-House Research Award, UCF Office of Research & Commercialization, 2012-2013
Margaret Bridgman Scholarship in Fiction, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, 2012
Notable Story of 2011, Best American Nonrequired Reading 2012
Recommended Reading: “Nudists,” The Millions, November 11, 2012
Winner, RopeWalk Press Fiction Chapbook Prize, 2011
Charles Phelps Taft Dissertation Fellowship, 2010-2011
Finalist, The Micro Award, 2011
Third Prize, The Atlantic Monthly Student Writing Contest, 2010
Winner, Regional Literature Competition, National Society of Arts and Letters, 2010
Winner, Alice White Reeves Memorial Award, National Society of Arts and Letters, 2010
Second Place, Hatfield/Westheimer Short Story Prize, 2010
Winner, Matt Clark Prize, New Delta Review, 2010
Finalist, Mississippi Review Prize, 2010
Finalist, Donald Barthelme Prize for Short Prose, Gulf Coast, 2009
Distinguished Mystery Story of 2007, Best American Mystery Stories 2008
Winner, Playboy College Fiction Contest, 2007
Winner, AWP Quickie Contest, Redivider, 2007
Second Prize, The Atlantic Monthly Student Writing Contest, 2006
Runner-Up, Nelson Algren Award, The Chicago Tribune, 2006
Winner, George Garrett Fiction Award, Willow Springs, 2006
Courses
| Course # | Course | Title | Mode | Days/Times | Syllabus | |
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| 11866 | CRW4724 | The Florida Review | Mixed Mode (M) | W 4:30 PM - 5:45 PM | Unavailable | |
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This course allows students to function as interns for UCF’s prestigious literary journal, The Florida Review. Here, students learn by doing, focusing on editorial decision-making, proofreading, organization, and journal production. This course is designed to help you as a writer (by demonstrating which stories, poems, and essays are accepted or rejected by a magazine, and why) and as an editor (by encouraging you to expand your taste and sense of style to meet the multifaceted needs of a national magazine). Throughout the course, you will study and evaluate real submissions from working writers, and you will help those writers share their work with the world. |
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| 12630 | CRW6920 | Fiction Workshop | In Person (P) | M 6:00 PM - 8:50 PM | Unavailable | |
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CRW 6920 is a graduate-level fiction workshop in which you will write new stories or novel chapters. Additionally, you will revise at least one of your pieces over the course of the semester. Work will be read and critiqued for structure and style. You will critique classmates' work as you aim to grow as a writer and critic of your own work. The course is also designed to broaden your literary aesthetic, cracking open what you think of as your voice and tugging you toward new forms and styles in your writing. Supplemental readings will include published short stories and/or short story collections. |
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| Course # | Course | Title | Mode | Days/Times | Syllabus |
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