Creative Writing Faculty

Deirdre McNamer

Deirdre McNamer

Professor

Office: LA 116
Email: deirdre.mcnamer@mso.umt.edu
Office Hours:

Tuesday 12pm-5pm
Personal Website
Curriculum Vitae

Current Position

Professor, English/creative writing--fiction

Courses

Graduate fiction workshop

Undergraduate fiction workshop

Graduate Techniques course

Graduate Special Topics course

Personal Summary

Deirdre McNamer is the author of the novels Rima in the Weeds (HarperCollins, 1991), One Sweet Quarrel (HarperCollins, 1994), My Russian (Houghton Mifflin, 1999), and Red Rover (Viking, 2007), which was named a Best Book of 2007 by Artforum, The Washington Post, and the LA Times.  Her stories and essays have appeared in the New Yorker, Ploughshares, Doubletake, New York Times opinion page, and elsewhere. McNamer teaches graduate and undergraduate writing workshops, and a graduate course in techniques.

Education

B.A., University of Montana, Journalism, 1973.

M.F.A., University of Montana, Fiction, 1987.

Research Interests

I'm at work on a fifth novel, a collection of short stories, and a fiction/nonfiction hybrid about those who work in America's underground nuclear missile system.

Field of Study

Journalism, B.A..

Creative writing, fiction, M.F.A.

Selected Publications

Beneath 

Publications

Novels:

Like a Lion at the Door, in-progress

Red Rover, Viking, 2007

My Russian, Houghton Mifflin, 1999

One Sweet Quarrel, HarperCollins, 1994

Rima in the Weeds, HarperCollins, 1991

Honors

Montana Arts Council Artist's Innovation Award, 2016

Judge, PEN/Faulkner Award, 2015

Judge and Chair, National Book Award in Fiction, 2011

Montana Book Award, 2007

Residencies at the MacDowell Colony and Yaddo: 1988, 1992, 1997, 2002.

National Endowment for the Humanities, Fellowship for Professional Journalists, 1982-83.

NY Times Notable Book Awards.

Multiple Best Book Lists of 2007 for Red Rover. 

Home Department

Department of English 

Area of Expertise

Creative Writing; Fiction

Teaching Experience

Visiting-writer positions at Cornell University, Ohio State University, the University of Alabama, Williams College, the University of Montana: 1992-97

Faculty, Department of English/creative writing, University of Montana, 1998-present. Currently tenured full professor.

 

Professional Experience

Reporter for the Associated Press and several daily newspapers in the Northwest, 1973-1984

Free-lance work for national magazines and newspapers, subsequently.

Affiliations

PEN