Aimee Parkison is an American writer known for experimental, lyrical, feminist fiction. She has won the FC2 Catherine Doctorow Innovative Fiction Prize as well as the first annual Starcherone Fiction Prize and has taught creative writing at a number of universities, including Cornell University, the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and Oklahoma State University.

Aimee Parkison
BornOklahoma, U.S.
OccupationWriter
NationalityAmerican
EducationOklahoma State University–Stillwater (BA)
Cornell University (MFA)
GenreFiction
Website
www.aimeeparkison.com

Biography

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Parkison was born in Oklahoma and earned her Bachelor of Arts with Honors in English Language and Literature/Letters from Oklahoma State University in 2000, where she was art editor and fiction editor of Papyrus, the undergraduate literary magazine. She earned her Master of Fine Arts from Cornell University in 2002, and taught there as a lecturer of Creative Writing from September 2002 to May 2004.

Parkison worked as an Associate Professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte,[1] where she taught Creative Writing, including fiction, poetry, and screenwriting. Parkison was the Creative Writing Coordinator of the English Department the faculty sponsor and chapter adviser for the UNC-C Sigma Tau Delta, Beta Sigma Chapter.

Parkison has served as a visiting faculty member at the British Council’s International Creative Writing Summer School in Athens, Greece.[2] Parkison has served as a fiction faculty member at Chautauqua Writers’ Festival.[3]

Her fiction has appeared in translation in Italian literary magazines L’IRCOCERVO[4] and Lunario.[5]

Parkison has served as guest editor of New Flash Fiction Review.[6] She works an Associate Professor of Creative Writing-Fiction at Oklahoma State University, where she directed the MFA/PhD Creative Writing Program for two years.[7] Since 2019, she has served as a member of the FC2 Board of Directors.[8]

Fiction

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Winner of the FC2 Catherine Doctorow Innovative Fiction Prize[9][10] as well as the first annual Starcherone Fiction Prize, Parkison is the author of four short story collections and one novel. Parkison’s prose and poetry have appeared in literary magazines, anthologies, and academic journals. Her short story collection, Woman With the Dark Horses (2004), was selected by Cris Mazza for the first annual Starcherone Prize.[11] Parkison's second short story collection, The Innocent Party, was published by BOA Editions[12] in 2012.

Her fourth book, a story collection entitled Refrigerated Music for a Gleaming Woman, was published by FC2 in 2017 and won the Catherine Doctorow Innovative Fiction Prize.[9][10]

She was awarded a North Carolina Arts Council Fellowship[13] in Prose Writing and a Hearst Fellowship from the American Antiquarian Society[14] Her most recent short poetic novel called The Petals of Your Eyes, about kidnapped girls who become actors in a secret theater was published in May 2014.

Parkison regularly holds fiction readings and writing workshops at colleges throughout the country. She will also participate in the Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference Association of Writers & Writing Programs 2014 in Seattle. As part of the Women Writing Violence panel, she will discuss how today’s literature often ignores the trend of "Women Writing Violence." She is now working on a new story collection, a screenplay, and a historical novel.

She has received a Christopher Isherwood Fellowship,[15] a Writers at Work Fellowship, and a Kurt Vonnegut Fiction Prize [16] from the North American Review, the oldest literary magazine in the US.[17]

Her primary areas of interest include fiction writing, creative nonfiction, screenwriting and film studies and women’s studies. She currently is working on a new story collection, a screenplay, and a historical novel.

Reviews

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In addition to fiction writing, Parkison has written a review titled "All the Pretty Things;" an evaluation of The Beautiful Anthology that appeared in the American Book Review. Vol. 33, No. 5: 20.

Books

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  • The Petals of Your Eyes. Starcherone Books, Buffalo, NY: May 13, 2014. ISBN 978-1938603204
  • The Innocent Party. BOA Editions, Ltd. (American Reader Series), Rochester, NY: April 17, 2012. ISBN 978-1934414866
  • Woman with Dark Horses. Starcherone Press: Buffalo, NY: January 1, 2004. [Note: This book, a short story collection, was the winner of the 2003 Starcherone Fiction Prize.] ISBN 978-0970316554
  • Girl Zoo. FC2/University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa:Feb 19, 2019. ISBN 978-1573660709

Awards and Distinctions

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References

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  1. ^ "Aimee Parkison | Associate Professor, Department of English". Archived from the original on 2014-04-27. Retrieved 2014-04-26.
  2. ^ "Creative Writing School | British Council". 14 May 2014.
  3. ^ "12th annual Writers' Festival is a pre-season success". 27 June 2015.
  4. ^ "La Figlia Dimenticata" [The Forgotten Daughter] (PDF). L’IRCOCERVO: LA RIVISTA (in Italian). Vol. 1, no. March 2019. pp. 48–51.
  5. ^ “Petali Cadono Sull’Asfalto” (“As Petals Fall on Asphalt Roads”) Translated into Italian by Rachele Salvini, Lunario, July 2019: 37-40.
  6. ^ "Home". New Flash Fiction Review.
  7. ^ "Aimee Parkison". 8 October 2021.
  8. ^ "About FC2 | FC2".
  9. ^ a b c "Aimee Parkison".
  10. ^ a b c "Refrigerated Music for a Gleaming Woman - University of Alabama Press". www.uapress.ua.edu.
  11. ^ "Previous Winners". Starcherone Books. Archived from the original on 2015-12-12.
  12. ^ "Aimee Parkison - Authors - BOA Editions". Archived from the original on 2014-04-27. Retrieved 2014-04-26.
  13. ^ "Individual Artist: Aimee Parkison: Literature Fiction". North Carolina Arts Council.
  14. ^ "Present and Former Creative and Performing Artist and Writer Fellows | American Antiquarian Society". Archived from the original on 2015-03-26. Retrieved 2014-04-26.
  15. ^ "AWP: Directory of Members". awpwriter.org.
  16. ^ "Kurt Vonnegut Prize Winners". 2004 Winner; Warnings. North American Review.
  17. ^ "North American Review". North American Review.
  18. ^ "Kurt Vonnegut Fiction Prize Winners". 2004 Winner: Warnings by Aimee Parkison. North American Review.
  19. ^ Parkison, Aimee (May–August 2004). "Warnings". North American Review. May–August 2004: 3–8.
  20. ^ Parkison, Aimee. "Warnings". North American Review. May–August 2004: 3–8.
  21. ^ a b "Aimee Parkison Literature Fiction Writing". North Carolina Arts Council.
  22. ^ "Starcherone Books". Archived from the original on 2015-12-12.
  23. ^ "Aimee Parkison". Web Del Sol Chapbook Series. Web Del Sol.
  24. ^ "Crab Orchard Review's Annual Literary Contests". "The Upstairs Album' 2001 Winner citation. Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Archived from the original on 2014-05-12. Retrieved 2014-05-12.
  25. ^ "Present and Former Creative and Performing Artist and Writer Fellows". 2013 Fellowship Winner. American Antiquarian Society, AAS. Archived from the original on 2015-03-26.
  26. ^ "Aimee Parkison: Literature Fiction Writing". North Carolina Arts Council.
  27. ^ Moore, Rebecca. "Three Charlotte Area Artists Receive NC Arts Council Fellowship". North Carolina Arts Council. Archived from the original on 2014-05-13. Retrieved 2014-05-12.
  28. ^ "Aimee Parkison: Literature Fiction Writing Fellowship". North Carolina Arts Council.
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