Amy Monticello

Amy Monticello (born 1982) is an American essayist, lecturer, and non fiction writer. A recipient of the S.I Newhouse School Prize in Nonfiction (2014), nominee for the Pushcart Prize in 2011 and 2010 and recipient of certification of appreciation for collaborative course development from the Ithaca College Division of Student Affairs in 2011. 'Monticello is the author of Close Quarters (Sweet Publications, 2012).

Life and work

Amy Monticello was born in Endicott, New York in 1982. She earned a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing at The Ohio State University in 2008. Monticello's essays have been published in the journals Redivider, Upstreet, Waccamaw, Prick of the Spindle, Phoebe, and Sweet: A Literary Confection among other literary journals. Her book Close Quarters, is classified as a chapbook, which is more commonly known as a short collection of poems. In constructing her non-fiction chapbook she took a collection of her shorter essays from a novel she was working on and used the novella form as a guide. She is a contributing writer at The Nervous Breakdown and an Assistant Professor at Suffolk University in Boston, MA.

Works

Books

• Close Quarters. Chapbook. Sweet Publications, 2012.

Anthology Inclusions

• Tuscaloosa Writes This, “Communing with Cancer,” Eds. Brian Oliu and Patti White, Slash Pine Press, 2013.
• Going Om, “Against the Pursuit of Happiness,” Ed. Melissa Carroll, Viva editions/Cleis Press, forthcoming 2014.

Journal Publications

• “Waiting for My Milk During the Polar Vortex, I Channel William Blake.” The Common. 2014.
• “Moderation is the Key.” Prime Number. Issue 47.3
• “Shame.” Brevity. Issue 45.
• “The Short Summer.” The Common. 2013.
• “The Faces We Carry.”The Nervous Breakdown. 2013.
• “Eighteen One-Sided Conversations With My Father.” Women Arts Quarterly Journal. Issue 3.1.
• “Playing the Odds.” The Nervous Breakdown. 2013.
• “Communing with Cancer.” Salon.com. 2013.
• “The Public Man.” The Nervous Breakdown. 2012.
• “Loving Captain Corcoran.” Stone Canoe. Issue 7.
• “Against the Pursuit of Happiness: A Meditation.” The Nervous

Breakdown. 2012.

• “Just a Number.” Strange Angels. 2012.
• “I Know Who You Are.”The Nervous Breakdown. 2012.
• Untitled 140-character micro-essay. Creative Nonfiction. Issue 44.
• “How to Euthanize a Horse.” Natural Bridge. Issue 28.
• “The Other Woman.” Iron Horse Literary Review. Issue 14.3. Notable Essay in Best American Essays. 2013
• “Christmas 1984.” The Nervous Breakdown. 2011.
• “Suburban.” Connotation Press: An Online Artifact. Issue 8.4.
• “A Good Man.” WomenArts Quarterly Journal. Issue 1.4.(Nominated for Pushcart Prize.)
• “Adopted Siblings: Part One.” The Nervous Breakdown. 2011.
• “Southpaw: One Week as a Leftie.” The Nervous Breakdown. 2011.
• “Dear M---, It’s Me Again, Amy.” The Nervous Breakdown. 2011.
• “Chimney Swift.” Sweet: A Literary Confection. Issue 3.3
• “The North Side.” Phoebe. Featured online content. 2011.
• “All the Ways We Fool Ourselves.” Waccamaw. Issue 10. (Nominated for Pushcart Prize.)
• “Getting Caught.” Prick of the Spindle. Issue 4.2.
• “Winter.” Upstreet. Issue 6.
• “Miracles We Get.” Redivider. Issue 6.2.
• “Tradition.”The Rambler. 2008.
• “Looking Forward.” Word Riot. 2008.
• “Errands.” Flashquake. 2007
• “From Private to Public: Moving Personal Narrative to Cultural Analysis.” Association of Writers and Writing Programs, Best of the Pedagogy Papers 2007.

Craft Articles

• “In Defense of the Confessional: Parenting, Inclusivity, and J.D. Schraffenberger’s ‘Droppies Babies’.” Essay Daily. 2014.
• “Hello New Year, Hello 30: A Craft Conversation with Marissa Landrigan.” Her Kind: A Literary Community Powered by VIDA. 2013.
• “More Than One True Thing.” Waccamaw. Issue 11.
• “The Place Where Opposing Instincts Meet.” Tuscaloosa Writes This. Eds. Brian Oliu and Patti White, Slash Pine Press, 2013.

Pedagogy Articles

• “The Advice Column Personal Essay.” The Creative Writers’ Collaborative. 2012.
• "From Private to Public: Moving Personal Narrative to Cultural Analysis.” Association of Writers and Writing Programs, Best of the Pedagogy Papers 2007.

Readings And Presentations

• “The Fire Inside.” Dillon's Tavern. Boston, MA. March 2013.
• “Deconstructing the Family.” Handwerker Art Gallery. Ithaca College. 2012.
• Arcades Project reading. Historic McCormick House. Ithaca, New York. May 2012.
• Close Quarters chapbook release reading. River's End Bookstore. Oswego, NY. April 2012.
• Close Quarters chapbook release reading. Buffalo Street Books. Ithaca, NY. March 2012.
• Using Social Media as a Writer. Careers for Writers Series. Ithaca College. Ithaca, NY. March 2012.
• Court & Spark: How the Internet Solves the Problem of Isolation…With Itself. Tuesday Salon lecture. Handwerker Art Gallery. Ithaca College. Ithaca, NY. February 2012.
• Connotation Press—An Online Artifact reading. Kasey's Tavern. Chicago, IL February 2012.
• Smackdown! Release party reading. Buffalo Street Books. Ithaca, NY. October 2010
• Barbed Wire reading. Green Bar. Tuscaloosa, AL. January 2010.
• “The Role of Research in Memoir.” Panelist, Gulf Coast Association of Creative Writing Teachers Conference. Fairhope, AL. Spring 2010.
• Barbed Wire reading. Green Bar. Tuscaloosa, AL. January 2009.
• “Creative Nonfiction: The Dangerous Genre.” Panelist, Gulf Coast Association of Creative Writing Teachers Conference. Fairhope, AL. Spring 2009.
• Epilog reading. The Ohio State University. Columbus, OH. June 2008.
• Mother Tongue reading. Barley's Underground. Columbus, OH. February 2008.
• “From Private to Public: Moving Personal Narrative to Cultural Criticism.” Pedagogy symposium, Association of Writers and Writing Programs Conference. Atlanta, GA. April 2007.
• Student-Faculty reading. The Ohio State University. Columbus, OH. March 2007.
• MotherTongue reading. Barley's Underground. Columbus, OH. February 2006.
• Writing Contest award reading. Ithaca College. Ithaca, NY. May 2005.
• James J. Whalen Symposium reading. Ithaca College. Ithaca, NY. May 2005.
• Handwerker Student-Faculty reading. Ithaca College. Ithaca, NY. March 2005.

Honors

• Winner, S.I. Newhouse School Prize in Nonfiction, 2013.
• Nominee, Pushcart Prize, 2011.
• Recipient, certificate of appreciation for collaborative course development. Ithaca College Division of Student Affairs, 2011.
• Nominee, Pushcart Prize, 2010.
• Finalist, The Journal’s Alumni Flash Writing Contest, The Ohio State University, 2010.
• Nominee, The Ohio State University's Graduate Associate Teaching Award, 2007.
• Recipient of commendation letter for excellence in teaching from The Ohio State University's First-Year Writing Program, 2006.
• Winner, Ithaca College Writing Contest in creative nonfiction and poetry, 2005.

Work Forthcoming

The Way I love you (an investigative nonfiction account of murder, corporate personhood, and nostalgia in an American small town)