Sunday, September 28, 2008

What is Manuel Muñoz reading?

The current featured contributor to Writers Read: Manuel Muñoz, author of two collections of short stories: Zigzagger and The Faith Healer of Olive Avenue.

One paragraph from his entry:
A book I started too late to assign to my undergrads, but will appear on a syllabus in the spring, is Asali Solomon's fantastic short story collection, Get Down: I sense my students will respond well to her extraordinary warmth and humor, even in difficult situations. And I can't wait to start Walk the Blue Fields, by the Irish writer Claire Keegan. I recently met both of these writers at a conference in Cork and came away quite impressed. Sadly, it was only Keegan whom I got to see on a panel: she was terrific on one about Irish literature, and I was quite taken with her composure, her sure-footed commitment to her writing, and her extremely intelligent reasoning for its place in the world.[read on]
Manuel Muñoz is a member of the faculty of the University of Arizona's creative writing program.

The Faith Healer of Olive Avenue was shortlisted for the 2007 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Prize.

Muñoz is the recipient of a 2006 National Endowment for the Arts literature fellowship and is currently a 2008 Fellow in Fiction with the New York Foundation for the Arts. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Times, Rush Hour, Swink, Epoch, Glimmer Train, Edinburgh Review, and Boston Review, and has aired on National Public Radio's Selected Shorts. A native of Dinuba, California, Manuel graduated from Harvard University and received his MFA in creative writing at Cornell University.

Visit Manuel Muñoz's website.

Writers Read: Manuel Muñoz.

--Marshal Zeringue