Dr. Claudia Smith
Biography
Claudia Smith's work has been steadily published for over a decade in numerous journals and anthologies, including W.W. Norton's The New Sudden Fiction: Short-Short Stories from America and Beyond. She has three published story collections and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize twelve times. Her book Quarry Light recently won the Writer's League of Texas Discovery Prize for Fiction Award. She has taught creative writing for Gemini Ink, a literary organization that brings artists into schools in San Antonio, Texas and also led a writing workshop at the Highland Literary Festival in Dallas, Texas.
Degrees Earned
Doctor of Philosophy, 2012. University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg. Emphasis on creative writing.
M.A. in English, 1993. The Writing Seminars, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore.
B.A. In English, 1992. Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson. Emphasis on American Literature.
Creative Writing (fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction and hybrid forms)
Composition and Rhetoric
Courses Taught
ENG 1301 Composition 1
ENG 3309 Creative Writing
ENG 2312 Survey of American Literature: 1800 to Present
Experience Qualifications
Dr. Claudia Smith is a Lecturer in the English Department at UHD. She has a Ph.D. in English with an emphasis in creative writing from the Center for Writers at The University of Southern Mississippi, an interdisciplinary program in both creative writing and English literature, and an M.A. from The Writing Seminars program at Johns Hopkins University. Her work has been steadily published for over a decade in numerous journals and anthologies, including W.W. Norton's The New Sudden Fiction: Short-Short Stories from America and Beyond. She has three published story collections and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize twelve times. Her book Quarry Light recently won the Writer's League of Texas Discovery Prize for Fiction Award. She has taught creative writing for Gemini Ink, a literary organization that brings artists into schools in San Antonio, Texas and also led a writing workshop at the Highland Literary Festival in Dallas, Texas. As a writer who has published nonfiction, fiction, poetry, and hybrid forms she is well qualified to teach the multi-genre Intro to Creative Writing course (ENG 3309) at UHD. Her six years of experience teaching composition make her well qualified to teach composition (ENG 1301). Additionally, as a graduate student and teaching assistant, she took a practicum in graduate school on rhetoric and composition as part of her coursework. Her B.A. in English with an emphasis in American literature, coursework in American literature and Modernism during her graduate work at Johns Hopkins and The University of Mississippi, and her background in teaching survey courses have thoroughly prepared her to teach any American literature survey course (ENG 2312).
More Information
PUBLICATIONS
Books, Chapbooks
Quarry Light. Northampton: Magic Helicopter Press, 2013.
Print. 20% of all pre-ordered sales were donated to The Shafer Center, a crisis center located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
Put Your Head In My Lap. Portland: Future Tense Books, 2009.
Reprint: A Peculiar Feeling of Restlessness: Four Chapbooks of Short-Short Fiction By Four Women. Brookline: Rose Metal Press, 2008. Print.
The Sky is a Well and Other Shorts. Brookline: Rose Metal Press, 2007.
Nonfiction
"In My Clothes." The Rumpus. August 2014.
"Basic. Bitch." The Toast/The Butter. January 2015.
"Both Nostalgic and Sinister. American Book Review. November/December 2014.
"Implied Narrative." American Book Review. May/June 2010.
"Pillow." Make. Fall 2009.
"Submarine Dreams." What Happened To Us These Last Couple Years? An Anthology of The Bush Years. Elope Press and So New Publishing, 2008. Print.
Novel Chapter
Box City. New World Writing. 21 July. 2013.
Short Stories
"Propriety." Product 26, Center For Writers English Dept., 2011.
"Catgirl." Lone Star Noir. Anthology. Akashic Press and Cinco Puntos Press, 2010: 41-64.
"Hook." Storyglossia. March 2008. Pushcart nomination.
Flash Fiction/Short Shorts
"Hula." Wigleaf, November 2012. Web.
"Babyfat." Noo. 26 May 2008. Web.
"My Lawrence." 2005. New Sudden Fiction: Short-Short Stories From America And Beyond. Ed.
Robert Shapard and James Thomas. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2007. 105-110.
Positions Held
- Taught composition and literature at the University of Southern Mississippi, where she received her doctorate, and at the University of South Alabama.
- Worked for Gemini Ink as a part of Writers-In-Communities, (WIC), a program that sends professional writers into diverse community settings to offer free workshops based in reading, creative writing, oral traditions, and storytelling.
- Taught English at the Beijing Language and Culture University (formerly known as Beijing Language Institute) from 1995-1996. This summer she will teach for Writers in the Schools, a non-profit organization in Houston, Texas.
Recognitions
Winner for the short story collection Quarry Light, 2013/2014 Writers League of Texas Discovery Prize (Fiction).
Winner for the collection The Sky Is A Well And Other Shorts, Rose Metal Press' first annual short-short chapbook competition. 2007.