Varley O'Connor
Biography
Varley O'Connor is the author of four novels, most recently The Master’s Muse, published by Scribner in 2012. Her other novels include The Cure (Bellevue Literary Press, 2007) A Company of Three (Algonquin Books, 2003) and Like China (William Morrow, 1991). Her shorter prose has appeared in Missouri Review, Santa Monica Review, The Sun magazine, AWP Writer's Chronicle, Faultline: A Journal of Art and Literature, Driftwood, Algonkian magazine, and The MacGuffin. Her fifth novel, The Welsh Fasting Girl, will be published by Bellevue in May 2018.
Before joining the Kent State faculty, Varley O'Connor taught writing and literature at Hofstra University, Brooklyn College, and Marymount Manhattan College. In 2015 she was visiting fiction writer at the University of California, Irvine. She has also worked as a professional actor in theater, film, and television.
Research Areas
- Creative Work in the Novel, Short Story, and Personal Essay/Short Memoir
Publications
- The Welsh Fasting Girl: a novel, forthcoming, Bellevue Literary Press, May 2019.
- “Shot World,” a short story, <i>Santa Monica Review</i>, Fall 2014.
- “Walter Jean, c. 1979, a personal essay, <i>The Missouri Review</i>, Fall 2014.
- “Finding the Truth in Fiction,” <i>Publishers Weekly</i>, March 19, 2012.
- “An Interview with Paul Harding, <i>Writer’s Chronicle</i>, March 2012.
- The Master's Muse, Scribner, May 2012.
- "Blue Station Wagon, Circa 1961," a personal essay, The MacGuffin, Spring/Summer 2010.
- "The Empathic," a short story, The Sun magazine; February 2008.
- "Exercise in Putting Characters into Action," contribution to anthology Naming the World and Other Exercises for Creative Writers, ed. Bret Anthony Johnston; Random House, January 2008.
- "Suki," a personal essay, The Sun magazine; October 2007.
- The Cure, Bellevue Literary Press, May 2007.
- "Forsytes," a personal essay, Driftwood literary journal; April 2007.
- "An Interview with Sigrid Nunez," AWP Writer's Chronicle; February 2007.
- A Company of Three, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, September 2003.
- Like China, William Morrow, February 1991.
