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KAREN SALYER MCELMURRAY 104 Mariner’s Court NE Milledgeville, GA 31061 478-451-0223 Karen.McElmurray@gcsu.edu ªªª PUBLICATIONS “A Voice from the Heart,” in Trashy Women, an anthology, University of Michigan Press, 2008 Surrendered Child: A Birth Mother’s Journey (October, 2004, University of Georgia Press; paper edition March 2006) Excerpt from Surrendered Child in Atlanta Magazine (September, 2004) Chapter from Black Dog, a novel-in-progress, Blue Mesa, Spring, 2003 “Miraculous Mother,” creative nonfiction, in Leaving the Nest: Mothers and Daughters on the Art of Saying Goodbye, an anthology (forthcoming, edited by Marilyn Kallet Excerpts from Strange Birds in the Tree of Heaven, in Women Writing In Appalachia, an anthology (2003) from University of Kentucky Press, Edited by Sandra Ballard “What We Remember and What We Forget,” creative nonfiction, Old Dominion Review. “June 21, 1973,” portion of memoir in progress, Turnings: Transformations in Women’s Lives, Spring 2000 Strange Birds in the Tree of Heaven, a novel, Hill Street Press, October 1999. “Minimalism and Maximalism in the Creative Writing Classroom,” Creating Fiction, Story Press, March 1999 “Running Away,” creative nonfiction, The Sun, Winter 1994 “The Logic of Angels,” portion of novel in progress, The Alaska Quarterly Review, Spring/Summer 1992 “The Lost Art of Tap Dancing,” portion of novel in progress, The Kenyon Review, Spring/Summer 1992 “A Royal House,” portion of novel-in-progress, West Branch, Spring 1990 “City of Spires, City of Dreams,” short story, The Key West Review, Fall 1989 “Jeanette: Refractions of Water and Light,” short story, Cargoes, Spring 1989 “The Tattoo,” short story, Timbuktu, Fall 1988 “Waiting for the Animals,” The Pikeville Review, Spring 1987 “Other Fires: A Book Review,” Iris, Fall 1987 “Fetching Water,” short story, Iris, Spring 1987 MANUSCRIPTS Black Dog, a novel (under contract, Sarabande Books; pub date 2008) Wanting Inez, a novel-in-progress AGENT Patty Moosbrugger Literary Agency AWARDS 2005 Georgia Author of the Year Award, Memoir 2005 Glasgow Prize Finalist 2005 Appalachian Writers Association Award Nominee, Nonfiction National Book Critics Circle, Notable Book, Surrendered Child, Winter 2005 Kentucky Educational Television Book Club Selection, (Strange Birds) June 2005 Associated Writers and Writing Programs, Award in Creative Nonfiction, 2003 Lillie Chaffin Award for Appalachian Literature, Morehead University, Summer 2001 Nominee, Shirley Rosser Excellence in Teaching Award, Lynchburg College, Spring 2001 Pushcart Prize nomination for “June 23, 1973,” May 2001 Finalist, Best Novel of the Year, Appalachian Writers Association, Summer 2000 Nominee, Lillian Anne Smith Award for Best Novel, Summer 2000 Nominee, Virginia Prize for Fiction, Summer 2000 James A. Huston Excellence in Scholarship Award, Spring 2000 Finalist, AWP Award Series, 1998 Finalist, Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, 1993, 1995 Pushcart Prize nomination for “The Logic of Angels,” 1994 Sherwood Anderson Award for Short Fiction, 1989 James Purdy Prize for Fiction, 1989 Finalist, Breakthrough Competition, University of Missouri Press, 1989 Winner, Writer’s Forum Fiction Award, 1985 Awards while at Berea College include: Krieder Book Award; Hutchins Creative Effort Award; Austin Scholar Award; May B. Smith Award for Research; Emily Ann Smith English Department Award FELLOWSHIPS Residency, Writers Colony at Dairy Hollow, Summers 2003, 2004 The Notorious Fellowship, Writers Colony at Dairy Hollow, 2002 The Hambidge Center, Summers, 1998, 1999, 2000 Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, 1991, 1997, 1998 Robert E. Park Teaching Fellow, 1997 National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, 1993-1994 The Millay Colony for the Arts, Summer 1994 North Carolina Arts Council, 1991-92 Kentucky Foundation for Women, 1991 Hollins College Writing Fellow, 1988-89 St. Albans Fellow, 1988 Dupont Fellow, 1985-86 NEA fellow, John Ciardi Tribute Conference, Northern Kentucky College, 1985 Henry Hoyns Fellow, University of Virginia, 1984-85 READINGS & INTERVIEWS University of South Alabama, Fall 2007 Appalachian State University, forthcoming, Spring 2008 Kutztown University, Fall 2006 Middle Georgia College, Fall 2006 Southwest Writers’ Series, Spring 2006 University of Tampa, Conference on Adoption and Identity, November 2005 St. Leo University, November 2005 University of Northern Iowa, September 2005 Spalding University, Guest Lecture, May 2005 Georgia Public Broadcasting, Cover to Cover Interview, April 2005 Associated Writing Programs Featured Reader, April 2005 Central Virginia Community College, April 2005 Hollins University, April 2005 Keynote Address, Georgia Southern University, February 2005 LaGrange College, February 2005 WKYT Television Feature Story, February 2005 Television Interview, WKYT, Lexington, Kentucky, November 2004 Television Interview, The Writer’s Show, November 2004 University of Georgia, October 2004 Georgia Center for the Book, October 2004 Emory University Retired Professionals, October 2004 WUGA, radio interview, October 2004 ` Vanderbilt University, November 2004 Joseph Beth Booksellers, Lexington, Kentucky, November 2004 Coffee Tree Booksellers, Morehead, Kentucky, November 2004 Poor Richard’s Booksellers, Frankfort, Kentucky, November 2004 Southern Women Writer’s Conference, Berry College, Fall 2003 Frankfort Arts Foundation, reading, April 2003 Western Kentucky Book Festival, April 2003 University of New Mexico, October 2002 Western Kentucky University, October 2002 Ohio River Festival of Books, featured artist, November 2002 University of Georgia May 2002 Sewanee, March 2002 North Carolina Arts Council Reading Series, Spring 2002 Berry College, “Appalachia in Context,” Spring 2002 Old Dominion University, featured writer, October 2001 Christopher-Newport University, April 2001 Hamden-Sydney College, March 2001 Barton College, February 2001 “Hunger,” documentary showing, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Summer 2000 University of Wisconsin, Whitewater, March 2000 Hollins University, Roanoke, Virginia, February 2000 Berry College, December 2000 Lynchburg College, The Geraldine Lyon Owen Lecture Series, December 2000 Barnes & Noble, Lynchburg, Virginia, book signing, December 2000 Bluestockings Books, New York, reading, Fall 2000 Virginia Polytechnic Institute, reading, Fall 2000 Georgia Public Broadcasting, interview, October 1999 Barnes and Noble, Atlanta, Georgia - featured reader, October 1999 Malaprops Books, Asheville, North Carolina - featured reader, October 1999 Writers Bloc, Athens, Georgia October 1999 National Public Radio, Athens, Georgia, interview, October 1999 CONFERENCES Trashy Women, Vanderbilt University, forthcoming March 2008 Creative Nonfiction Now, November 2007 AWP Panel, “Women Writing About Family,” forthcoming February 2008 Symposium on The Memoir: Trinity College, forthcoming March 2007 AWP Panel, “Joy: the Final Taboo,” March 2007 AWP Reading: “Southern Women Writers” Adoption Crossroads, Fall 2006 Ohio Valley Writer’s Conference, April 2006 AWP Panel, “Writing Rapture,” Austin, March 2006 AWP Panel, “When Life Interrupts Nonfiction,” Austin, March 2006 Adoption and Culture, University of Tampa, November 2005 Southern Festival of the Book, October 2005 Sewanee Young Writers’ Conference, Faculty, Summer 2005 AWP Panel, “What We Write About When We Write About Love,” Vancouver, April 2005 AWP Panel, “Dark Nights of the Soul,” Vancouver, April 2005 Southern Kentucky Festival of the Book, April 2005 Southeastern Literary Magazine Fair, September 2004 Kentucky Book Festival, November 2004 Birmingham Southern University, “Writing Today,” March 2001 Virginia Festival of the Book, Spring 2000 Kentucky Festival of the Book, Frankfort, Kentucky, November 1999 SEBA (Southeastern Booksellers’ Association), annual trade show, Greensboro, North Carolina, panel, “Promising Debut Novels,” October 1999 North American Council on Adoptable Children, 29^th Annual Conference August 2004 AWP Panel, “Writing about Family,” Baltimore, March 2003 AWP Panel, “Good Work,” Baltimore, March 2003 CONFERENCES University of Georgia Maymester, “The Memoir,” May 2002 North American Council on Adoptable Children, 28^th Annual Conference August 2002, panel presentation, “No More Secrets and Lies” Ohio Valley Writers’ Conference, forthcoming, featured reader, November 2002 Kentucky Women Writers’ Conference, April 2002 AWP Panel, “Women Writing Sex,” March 2002 Southern Festival of the Book, panelist, “Living Appalachian Voices,” October 2001 AWP Panel, “Giving Birth/Not Giving Birth: Women and Creativity,” Palm Springs, April 2001 Women in Appalachia Conference, University of Ohio, Zanesville, “Filling up their Want & Want: Women and the Cost of Silence,” Fall 2000 Kentucky Women Writers’ Conference, April 2000 Southern Festival of the Book, Nashville, Tennessee, panel, “Debut Novels,” October 1999 AWP Pedagogy Forum, “Teaching the Unnamable,” April 1999 Baylor University Conference, “The Christ Haunted South,” Fall 1998 AWP Pedagogy Forum, “Setting in Fiction,” April 1998 AWP Panelist, “The Writer as Traveler,” April 1998 Appalachian Studies Conference, “New Voices,” Spring 1996 Twentieth Century Literature Conference, reading, Spring, 1995 North Carolina Writer’s Network, Fall Conference, “Spirituality in Fiction,” 1994 SELECT REVIEWS Go Upstate (Surrendered Child), March 2006 The Southern Review (Surrendered Child), Summer 2005 St. Petersburg Times (Surrendered Child), November 2005 Rain Taxi Review of Books (Surrendered Child), March 2005 The Southern Register (Surrendered Child), Winter 2005 The Tennessean (Surrendered Child), February 2005 Courier Journal (Surrendered Child), February 2005 Southern Living (Surrendered Child), January 2005 Nashville Scene (Surrendered Child), November 2004 Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Surrendered Child), October 2004 Columns (Surrendered Child), October 2004 McCormick Messenger (Surrendered Child), September 2004 Southern Scribe (Surrendered Child), September 2004 Publisher’s Weekly (Surrendered Child), August 2004 Women’s Review of Books (Strange Birds), July 2000 Chicago Tribune (Strange Birds), January 2000 Lambda Book Report (Strange Birds), February 2000 Oxford American (Strange Birds), Jan/Feb 2000 Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “New Fiction” (Strange Birds), November 1999 Publisher’s Weekly (Strange Birds), August 1999 Kirkus Reviews (Strange Birds), September 1999 EDUCATION UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA Ph.D. in American Literature, June 1997 HOLLINS UNIVERSITY M.A. in Contemporary Fiction Writing, June 1989 UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA M.F.A. in Fiction, June 1986 BEREA COLLEGE B.A. in Philosophy and Literature, May 1980 PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE GEORGIA COLLEGE AND STATE UNIVERSITY, Milledgeville, Georgia Assistant Professor, Tenure-track, 2003-present Courses: Introduction to Creative Writing Intermediate Creative Writing Fiction Writing (Intermediate, Advanced and Graduate) World Literature Prose Form and Theory Creative Nonfiction Appalachian Literature (Fall 2006) MFA Thesis Director: Fiction and Creative Nonfiction BERRY COLLEGE, Rome, Georgia Writer-in-Residence, 2001-2002; Visiting Professor, 2002-2003 Courses: Fiction and Advanced Fiction Writing Telling Your Life Story: The Art of Memoir Creative Nonfiction Contemporary World Literature Composition and Rhetoric, I and II LYNCHBURG COLLEGE, Lynchburg, Virginia Assistant Professor, Fall 1997 - 2001 Courses: Introduction to Creative Writing Fiction Writing Advanced Fiction Writing Creative Nonfiction Southern Women Writers UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA, Athens, Georgia Teaching Associate as Ph.D. student, Fall 1992 - 1996 Instructor, Fall 1996 - Spring 1997 Courses: Composition and Argumentation Composition and Literature Introduction to Creative Writing Early American Literature Modern American Literature UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, Asheville, North Carolina Instructor, 1989-1992 Courses: Composition I and II Introduction to Creative Writing Creative Retirement Center VIRGINIA POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE, Blacksburg, Virginia Instructor, 1988-89 Courses: Composition I Early American Literature UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, Charlottesville, Virginia Adjunct Faculty, 1986-87 Graduate Instructor, 1984-86 Instructor in the Young Writer’s Workshop, Summers 1986 and 1990 SERVICE GEORGIA COLLEGE AND STATE UNIVERSITY: Advisor, Peacock’s Feet (Undergraduate Literary Magazine) Creative Nonfiction Editor, Arts & Letters (Literary Magazine) Arts Unlimited Convocation Keynote Committee Search Committee (poet hire), Winter 2005 Artistic Excellence Committee, Spring 2006 BERRY: Executive Committee, Southern Women Writer’s Conference LYNCHBURG: Gender Symposium, Spring 2001 Senior Symposium Lecture Series, Spring 2001 Judge: Hollins College Prize in the Novel, Spring 2001 Sommerville Scholar Committee, Fall 2000 Turner Humanities Program Lecturer, Fall 2000 Geraldine Lyon Owen Lecturer, Fall 2000 Judge: Virginia Prize in Fiction, 1998-1999 Writing Assessment Task Force, 1998-1999 Art Department Search Committee, Spring 1999 Prism (Literary Magazine)Advisor, 1998-1999; 1999-2000, 2000-2001 Agora Selections Committee, Spring 2000 Honors Thesis Director: “The Writer’s Voice” Honors Thesis Director: “Transformations” Prism Awards Selection Thornton Writers Committee Human Rights Committee Curriculum Committee Student Prose Award Committee James A. Huston Award Committee University of Georgia: Final Examination Committee, winter and Spring 1993 Founding member of The Writer’s Bloc, a student-run reading series, in conjunction with The Old Black Dog Bookstore Sigma Tau Delta, English Honor Society, 1993-Present Stillpoint, student literary magazine, editor, 1996 EDITORIAL EXPERIENCE Creative Nonfiction Editor, Arts & Letters, 2002-present Advisor, Peacock’s Feet (Undergraduate Literary Magazine) Advisor, The Prism, Lynchburg College Editorial Assistant, The Georgia Review, 1994-1995, included editorial assistance on special issue for the Nobel Laureates’ Awards, Winter 1995 Editor, Stillpoint Magazine, Spring 1995 Copy Editor, Iron Crown Books, 1984-1985 Mountain Association for Community Economic Development, Consultant, 1983 MEMBERSHIPS The Author’s Guild Associated Writing Programs Georgia Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts Rome Area Writers Network INTERNATIONAL Accepted for residency at Sanskriti Pratishthan, December 2005 Fiction in France, Montolieu, Summer 1996 Traveled extensively in Australia, Nepal, and India, 1986-1988 REFERENCES Available on request: Patty Moosbrugger, Literary Agent Judith Ortiz Cofer, Director, Creative Writing at University of Georgia Stephen Corey, Associate Editor, The Georgia Review Thomas C. Allen, Head, English Program, Lynchburg College David Lipani, Professor of Contemporary Literature, Lynchburg College Jim Watkins, Professor of Southern Studies, Berry College Lee Smith, author of Saving Grace, Fair and Tender Ladies, and numerous novels and story collections Sheri Reynolds, author of The Rapture of Canaan and other novels; Assistant Professor of Creative Writing at Old Dominion University Judy Long, Editor, Hill Street Press Greg Martin, Director of Creative Writing, University of New Mexico, English Sue William Silverman, Author and Editor of The Fourth Genre Rosemary Daniell, Author (the late) Susan Atefat-Peckham, Georgia College and State University ªªª

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