Leni Zumas
Encyclopedia
Leni Zumas is an American
writer
. Her first book, Farewell Navigator: Stories, was published in 2008 by Open City
. Her fiction has appeared in numerous literary magazines, including Columbia: A Journal of Art and Literature, Quarterly West
, Keyhole, Salt Hill, Gigantic (magazine)
, Open City
, and New York Tyrant. She is a winner of the AWP Intro Journals Award for Short Fiction. Zumas's debut novel, The Listeners, will be published by Tin House
in 2012.
A graduate of Brown University
and the University of Massachusetts Amherst
MFA Program, Zumas has received grants and fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts
, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Yaddo
, The MacDowell Colony, the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Millay Colony for the Arts
, and Hedgebrook
.
Zumas is an assistant professor of English at Portland State University
. She has also taught at Columbia University
, Hunter College
, Eugene Lang College, the University of Massachusetts
, the Great Smokies Writing Program at UNC Asheville, and the Juniper Summer Writing Institute.
. "It’s a powerful, irresistible collection.
L.A. Weekly observed, "It’s a rare writer who can bring us closer to people we might cross the street to avoid."
Writer and filmmaker Miranda July
said of the collection: "If darkness has ever been your friend, your story is in here."
Zumas was profiled in Poets & Writers
magazine's 2008 Debut Fiction issue and featured in the documentary 60 Writers/60 Places (2010) by Michael Kimball
and Luca Dipierro.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
. Her first book, Farewell Navigator: Stories, was published in 2008 by Open City
Open city
In war, in the event of the imminent capture of a city, the government/military structure of the nation that controls the city will sometimes declare it an open city, thus announcing that they have abandoned all defensive efforts....
. Her fiction has appeared in numerous literary magazines, including Columbia: A Journal of Art and Literature, Quarterly West
Quarterly West
Quarterly West is a prominent American literary magazine based at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Stories that have appeared in Quarterly West have been shortlisted for the Pushcart Prize, The Best American Short Stories and the O...
, Keyhole, Salt Hill, Gigantic (magazine)
Gigantic (magazine)
Gigantic is an American literary journal that publishes fiction, art and interviews. In particular, it focuses on short prose or flash fiction. Print issues also have included a special poetry section entitled "The Seizure State," curated by celebrated American poet Joe Wenderoth. It publishes...
, Open City
Open city
In war, in the event of the imminent capture of a city, the government/military structure of the nation that controls the city will sometimes declare it an open city, thus announcing that they have abandoned all defensive efforts....
, and New York Tyrant. She is a winner of the AWP Intro Journals Award for Short Fiction. Zumas's debut novel, The Listeners, will be published by Tin House
Tin House
Tin House is an American literary magazine and book publisher based in Portland, Oregon and New York City. The Tin House magazine was conceived in the summer of 1998 by Portland publisher Win McCormack. He envisioned a journal that would be graphically appealing and free of the stale substance...
in 2012.
A graduate of Brown University
Brown University
Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...
and the University of Massachusetts Amherst
University of Massachusetts Amherst
The University of Massachusetts Amherst is a public research and land-grant university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States and the flagship of the University of Massachusetts system...
MFA Program, Zumas has received grants and fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts
New York Foundation for the Arts
The New York Foundation for the Arts was created in conjunction the in 1971. The organization gives grants to individual artists and writers and developing arts organizations with a mission to '.'-NYFA's Programs:...
, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Yaddo
Yaddo
Yaddo is an artists' community located on a 400 acre estate in Saratoga Springs, New York. Its mission is "to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment."...
, The MacDowell Colony, the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Millay Colony for the Arts
Millay Colony for the Arts
The Millay Colony for the Arts is an artist residency program in Austerlitz, New York. The colony offers one month residencies to visual artists, writers, poets and composers. The Millay Colony for the Arts was founded in 1973 by Norma Millay Ellis, sister of the poet Edna St...
, and Hedgebrook
Hedgebrook
Hedgebrook is a rural retreat for women writers on Whidbey Island, Washington, founded in 1988. Hedgebrook's artist in residency program accepts 40 writers each year, who spend 2 to 6 weeks in residence working on their diverse writing projects. Each writer stays in her own hand-crafted cottage....
.
Zumas is an assistant professor of English at Portland State University
Portland State University
Portland State University is a public state urban university located in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1946, it has the largest overall enrollment of any university in the state of Oregon, including undergraduate and graduate students. It is also the only public university in...
. She has also taught at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, Hunter College
Hunter College
Hunter College, established in 1870, is a public university and one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York, located on Manhattan's Upper East Side. Hunter grants undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees in more than one hundred fields of study, and is recognized...
, Eugene Lang College, the University of Massachusetts
University of Massachusetts
This article relates to the statewide university system. For the flagship campus often referred to as "UMass", see University of Massachusetts Amherst...
, the Great Smokies Writing Program at UNC Asheville, and the Juniper Summer Writing Institute.
Farewell Navigator
"Zumas gives socially awkward, mysteriously gifted and self-destructive outcasts spellbinding, unflinching voice in her debut collection," wrote Publishers WeeklyPublishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
. "It’s a powerful, irresistible collection.
L.A. Weekly observed, "It’s a rare writer who can bring us closer to people we might cross the street to avoid."
Writer and filmmaker Miranda July
Miranda July
Miranda July is a performing artist, writer, actress and film director. Born Miranda Jennifer Grossinger, she works under the surname of "July," which can be traced to a character from a "girlzine" Miranda created with high school friend Johanna Fateman, called Snarla.- Background :Miranda...
said of the collection: "If darkness has ever been your friend, your story is in here."
Zumas was profiled in Poets & Writers
Poets & Writers
Poets & Writers, Inc. is one of the largest nonprofit literary organization in the United States serving poets, fiction writers, and creative nonfiction writers...
magazine's 2008 Debut Fiction issue and featured in the documentary 60 Writers/60 Places (2010) by Michael Kimball
Michael Kimball
- Biography & Career :Michael Kimball was born February 1, 1967 in Lansing, Michigan and is the author of The Way the Family Got Away , How Much of Us There Was ; Us , and Dear Everybody . He has also published the book Words under the conceptual pseudonym Andy Devine...
and Luca Dipierro.