MELISSA FEBOS                                         email: melissafebos.com

FICTION & NONFICTION WRITER, PROFESSOR, SPEAKER, & CURATOR

EDUCATION

Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New York
2008, Master of Fine Arts-Fiction and Nonfiction Writing, GPA 4.0

Eugene Lang College of The New School University, New York, New York
2002, Bachelor of Arts-Literature and Writing, GPA 3.9,
           

WORK EXPERIENCE

Utica College of Syracuse University, Utica, New York
Assistant Professor of English, Creative Writing
August 2011

• Teach full-time in English Department. Classes include creative writing, literature, and composition. Take part in departmental activities, committees, & program development.

Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, New York
Guest Faculty
January 2011 to June 2011

• Taught undergraduate workshop, “True Storytelling.”

Eugene Lang College, New School University, New York, New York
Lecturer
September 2010 to June 2011

• Taught a class to first-year liberal arts students, “Outsider Stories,” which combined literature, writing, film, and cultural studies.

New York University, School of Continuing and Professional Studies, New York, New York
Lecturer
January 2009 to Present

• Taught creative writing during regular semester, in addition to a 4-day intensive class during winter and summer sessions.
• Scheduled to develop online fiction course.

Prospect Writes, New York, New York
Founder
January 2009 to Present

• Led small private writing workshops in Brooklyn and Manhattan for advanced students.
• Conduct individual consultations and mentoring (short and long-term) on aspects of craft, critique, and book doctoring.

SUNY, Purchase College, School of Liberal Studies and Continuing Education, Purchase, New York
Lecturer
August 2006 to 2011

• Taught an advanced research & essay-writing class that all undergraduate seniors in liberal arts must pass to graduate.
• Taught literature, including Short Fiction & Modern American Short Stories.
• Taught (and developed curriculum for) cross-listed writing & literature courses, True Stories: The Craft of Memoir & Creative Nonfiction
• Designed courses for regular catalog, writing intensive and online pilot programs.

Gotham Writers’ Workshop, New York, New York
Faculty
August 2008 to August 2010

• Taught creative writing, fiction, & memoir at beginning and advanced levels, both live and online, and through individual mentorship.

Hofstra University, School for University Studies, Hempstead, New York
Lecturer
August 2008 to January 2009

• Taught introductory level composition
  

Sponsors for Educational Opportunity, New York, NY
           Instructor, Scholars Program
          January 2007 to June 2008

• Developed curriculum and taught critical reading/literature classes to eleventh grade honors students of color in non-profit college prep program.
• Taught SAT and PSAT classes, and tutored individual students.

Baccalaureate School for Global Education, Astoria, NY
Instructor
September 2006 to June 2007

• Developed curriculum and taught creative writing to eighth and tenth grade students.

PUBLICATIONS

Literary

• Glamour, “The Girl Next Door,” (essay), forthcoming March 2012
• The Moment (anthology),  “Try Before You Buy,” forthcoming from Harper Perennial in 2012
• Beauty (anthology), “Hot Mess,” forthcoming from TNB Books in 2012
• The Brooklyn Rail, “Watch Love Grow,” (fiction), forthcoming 2012
• LAMBDA Literary, “The Banal and the Profane,” (essay), October 2011
• Salon.com, “Dominatrix Moves to the Country,” (essay), September 12, 2011
• Drunken Boat, “Manginalogues,” (profile), forthcoming Fall 2011
• Electric Literature, “Songs for Dog Days,” (essay), August 1, 2011
• Eyresses (anthology), “The Jane Eyre Community Cookbook,” August 2011
• LargeHearted Boy, “Book Notes,” (essay), July 19, 2011
• New York Times, "Goodbye to All That," (essay), May 4, 2011
• New York Times, "Just Don't Connect," (essay), April 27, 2011
• New York Times, "Look at Me, I'm Crying," (essay), April 20, 2011
• New York Times, "The Timid Need Not Apply," (essay), April 13, 2011
• Sarah Lawrence Magazine, “Coming Clean,” (essay), Spring 2011
• Crush (anthology), “Giving up the Ghost,” published by Harlequin in May 2011
• Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood, “Don’t Feed the Crackheads,” (featured story), Winter 2011
• Sensitive Skin Magazine, “Somerville,” (fiction), Winter 2011
• Dissent, “Stalking Jessica,” (essay), Winter 2011
• Union Station, “Jessie,” (essay), Summer 2010
• The Chronicle of Higher Education Review, “Dominatrix Emerita,” (essay), Spring 2010
• Hunger Mountain, “Giving up the Ghost,” (essay), Spring 2010
• New York Times, “Living With Music: A Playlist,” (essay), Spring 2010
• Sadie Magazine, Whip Smart excerpt, Spring 2010
• Huffington Post, “A Mutual Friend,” (essay), Spring 2010
• Front Porch Journal, Whip Smart excerpt, Spring 2010
• Brooklyn the Borough, “An American Valentine,” (poem), February 2010
• The Rambler Magazine, “Vega” (fiction), Summer 2009
• The Southeast Review, “Chambermaid” (essay), Summer 2008
• Redivider, “The Hole” (essay), Spring 2008
• Italics Mine, “Girlfriends” (essay), Spring 2008
• Storyscape Journal, “Two Daughters” (fiction), Winter 2008
• Lostwriters, “In the Dark” (fiction), 2006
• Smut Magazine, “The Age of Domination” (essay), 2006
• Artisan Journal, “Untitled Sonnet” & “Elegy” (poems), 2002

Journalism

• Bookforum.com, “Graphic Lives” (review of five graphic memoirs), Winter 2010
• Citysearch, “Gastrorgasms: When Food is Better than Sex” (restaurant review) Summer 2008
• GO Magazine, “100 Women We Love”(profiles), June/July 2008
• Cape Cod Life, “Susan Fehlinger” (profile), Spring 2008
• Summerguide, “Beyond the Beach” (travel profile), Spring 2008
• Bitch Magazine, “Hooking Up” (feature essay), 2006

RELATED HONORS

Literary

• Awarded McDowell Colony Fellowships for Summer 2010 & Summer 2011
• Judge of the Hunger Mountain Creative Nonfiction Prize, Vermont College of Fine Arts, 2010
• First place winner of the Memoirs, Ink. half-yearly contest 2010
• Named one of GO Magazine’s “100 Women We Love” 2010
• Named one of Lambda Literary’s “Five New Voices to Watch Out For” 2010
• “Dogs” (fiction) nominated for Best New American Voices 2006

Academic

• Recipient of a Faculty Leadership Fund grant, Utica College, 2011
• Recipient of the UUP Service to the College Award, Purchase College, 2011
• Recipient of the Outstanding Faculty Member of the Year Award, Purchase College, 2009
• Highest rated faculty member in department (according to student evaluations), Purchase College, 2007

BOOKS

WHIP SMART,a memoir published in hardcover on March 2, 2010 by St. Martin’s Press/Thomas Dunne Books

• Paperback released by St. Martin’s Griffin on July 19, 2011.
• Australian edition published by Picador in April 2010.

Reviewed favorably by Kirkus Reviews, Publisher’s Weekly, Elle Magazine, The Economist, the Associated Press, The Daily Beast, AGNI, and Bust Magazine, among others; and featured in Marie Claire Magazine, The New York Post (cover story), Time Magazine, New York Magazine, BlackBook Magazine, Paper Magazine, The New York Press, and on NPR’s Fresh Air with Terry Gross, among others. 

A complete list of press & interviews, with links, is available here: http://melissafebos.com/press and a partial list of review blurbs can be found at the end of this vita.

THE FLOOD, a novel-in-progress.  First draft completed, currently in re-writes.  Anticipated submission for publication by Fall 2012.

CURATION

Mixer Reading and Music Series, New York, NY
Co-founder and host
March 2007 to Present

• Co-curate and host monthly event at Lower East Side venue Cakeshop that has been highly recommended by The New York Times, New York Magazine, and The L Magazine, among others, and has featured writers such as:

Mary Jo Bang, Paul Muldoon, Jonathan Lethem, Jennifer Egan, Mark Doty, Paul Lisicky, Joshua Ferris, Bret Anthony Johnston, Jennifer Egan, Eileen Myles, Chuck Klosterman, Stephen Elliott, Matthea Harvey, Joshua Henkin, Irini Spanidou, Vijay Seshadri, Keith Gessen, Catherine Barnett, Mark Bibbins, Martha Collins, Jeff McDaniel, Nick Flynn, Fiona Maazel, Hannah Tinti, Terese Svoboda, Cathy Park Hong, Amanda Stern, Thomas Sayers Ellis, Ross Gay, Amy Holman, Cate Marvin, Rivka Galchen, Deb Olin Unferth, Arthur Bradford, Sloane Crosley, Nathaniel Rich, Sean Wilsey, Joan Silber, Maggie Estep, Martha Collins, Victoria Redel, Allison Amend, Nathaniel Bellows, Rob Sheffield, Leni Zumas, Matthew Zapruder, Tracy K. Smith, Sini Anderson, Darin Strauss, Monica Youn.

Other Curations (also hosted by Melissa) include:

• April 29, 2011: Eugene Lang College’s 25th Anniversary Alumni Showcase
• June 28, 2010: Prospect Writes Alumni Reading: “Love, Sex, and Other Addictions”

APPEARANCES

I have given readings and conducted Q&As nationwide at hundreds of events, including:

• The Happy Ending Reading Series at Joe’s Pub, New York, NY
• The Freerange Nonfiction Series at the Cornelia Street Café, New York, NY
• Literary Death Match, New York, NY
• Sex Worker Literati, New York, NY
• In The Flesh Series, New York, NY
• The Gaslight Series, New York, NY
• The K’vetsch Series, San Francisco, CA
• Writers With Drinks, San Francisco, CA
• The Rumpus Reading Series, San Francisco, CA
• The RADAR Reading Series, San Francisco, CA
• Book Soup, Los Angeles, CA
• Rare Bird Lit, at Stories, Los Angeles, CA
• PowerHouse Arena, New York, NY
• The Bowery Poetry Club, New York, NY
• Melville House Books, Brooklyn, NY
• KGB Bar, New York, NY
• Word Books, Brooklyn, NY
• Trident Books, Boston, MA
• Powell’s Books, Portland, OR
• Elliott Bay Books, Seattle, WA
• Orca Books, Olympia, WA
• The Timberland Library, Olympia, WA
• The Syracuse YMCA, Syracuse, NY

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

• March 2012: Association of Writers & Writing Programs Annual Conference; organizer, moderator & panelist – “Feminism in the Writing Classroom: What’s the Rubric?”; Chicago, IL
• January 9, 2012: LaGuardia Community College, Special Guest Speaker; New York, NY
• September 23, 2011: New York College English Association Annual Conference; presenter: “Nonfiction Narrator: To what degree can the personal be integrated pedagogically?”; Utica, NY
• April 15, 2011: University of Wisconsin, Madison; Sexual Health Week Keynote Speaker; Madison, WI
• March 22, 2011: New School University; panelist (and co-curator) - Work Study: Sex Work and the New School Student; New York, NY
• January 15, 2011: The American Psychoanalytic Association’s National Meeting; Special Symposium Guest Speaker; Waldorf Astoria; New York, NY
• November 3, 2010: Shippensburg University; classroom visit, Women & The Media; Shippensburg, PA
• July 14, 2010: The Cape and Islands Gay and Straight Youth Alliance; Guest Speaker; Hyannis, MA
• June 5, 2010: Spur Happenings (private social/arts club); Special Guest Speaker; San Francisco, CA www.spurprojects.com
• April 10, 2010: Association of Writers & Writing Programs Annual Conference; panelist – “Truth or Trash: Women Writing Memoir”; Denver, CO
• March 26, 2010: Northwest Maritime Center; sponsored public event – featured speaker; Port Townsend, WA
• October 23, 2009: Purchase College; classroom visit - Riot Grrls and Radical Women; Purchase, NY
• December 1, 2009:  CUNY, LaGuardia; classroom visit – Miro Gudelsky’s Human Sexuality; New York, NY

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

• Member, Modern Language Association (MLA)
• Member, Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP)

REFERENCES

Nick Flynn
Tenured Professor & Bestselling Author
University of Houston

Vijay Seshadri
Director of the Nonfiction Masters Program, Tenured Professor, Author
Sarah Lawrence College

Adam Sexton
Associate Director, Humanities, Arts, and Writing Programs
NYU, SCPS

Joan Silber
Tenured Professor, Author
Sarah Lawrence College

Alex Steele
Dean of Faculty
Gotham Writers’ Workshop

Danielle D’Agosto
Director of Academic Programs
Purchase College, School of Liberal Studies and Continuing Education Department

WHIP SMART REVIEW BLURBS (an incomplete list):

“In her provocative debut…Febos pulls no punches as she describes in minute, and at times horrific, detail her working life…In lesser hands this could be a maudlin, salacious tale, but Febos’s electrifying prose and unremitting honesty continually challenge the reader. Expertly captures grace within depravity.”
-Kirkus Reviews

“Febos's debut about her four years working as a dominatrix at a midtown Manhattan “dungeon” cuts a sharp line between prurience and feminist manifesto…In this emotionally stark, excoriating work, Febos mines the darkest, most troubling aspects of human interaction.”
-Publisher’s Weekly

"Febos can really write, and it is the narrative voice she inhabits, at once honest and dispassionate, curious and even idealistic, that turns a timeworn story into a smart, provocative thrill-ride of a book…For all its jaw-dropping shock value...Whip Smart is, in the end, a treatise on the psychology of sex and power, subversion and submission—humanity." 
            -David Goodwillie for The Daily Beast

“Memoirs about salacious adventures have two requirements: they must be generous with the goods and astute with the analysis. Febos delivers on both, and with relish. No salty detail escapes her eye or goes unexamined. Febos is too self-aware to not see her past clearly, and too talented a writer to not make it fascinating.”
            -The Economist

“Melissa Febos examines, with frankness, generosity, and unexpected grace, the four years she spent working as a dominatrix in a midtown Manhattan dungeon…her revelations are often funny, occasionally sad, and fearlessly candid.”
            -San Francisco Bay Guardian

“Febos’ journeying into the darkest corners of both her and others’ minds is entertaining and enlightening; there are weird, eye-popping, sad, hilarious, and all-too-human episodes and encounters on almost every page.  Febos writes of her own walk on the wild side like a seasoned, and chastened, pro.”
            -Elle Magazine

"[Melissa Febos] ably dissects her own and others' psychological urges and sexual politics and presents it all in a way that renders the title apt. The memoir should be right at home next to Mary Karr, Nick Flynn and Alex Lemon on the bookshelf."
-New York Press

“All memoirs are an attempt to follow a trail of breadcrumbs home, yet WHIP SMART steps off the path, into the wooded shadows, and names that part of ourselves that could linger there forever. Melissa Febos masterfully brings us into these unexpected, unsettling places, the least of which are the dungeons she so vividly—briefly—occupies. Whip Smart is a wild, bright-eyed, ride home.”
-Nick Flynn, author of New York Times bestseller ANOTHER BULLSHIT NIGHT IN SUCK  CITY

“Whip Smart is that rare, lavish thing – a pageturner that gets you to think, a book that transcends its subject, a true story (in both senses of the word). It's what you want. Lucid and slyly seductive, funny and sad, Melissa Febos is the real deal.”
-Darin Strauss, author of New York Times bestsellers MORE THAN IT HURTS YOU & CHANG AND ENG

“Sometimes Melissa Febos’s tale is wrenchingly sad, sometimes it’s funny, but it’s always remarkably honest, brave and provocative about growing up: the pleasures and perils of being visible, the temptations of being numb, and the weird kick of being desired.”
-Rob Sheffield, author of New York Times bestseller LOVE IS A MIX TAPE

For further information please visit - www.melissafebos.com