Quick Facts
Biography
Anthony Varallo (born June 12, 1970) is an author and professor of English at the College of Charleston. He is the author of four short story collections, which have won awards such as the John Simmons Short Fiction Award, and the Drue Heinz Literature Prize. Among other awards he has also received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Literature, the Journal Short Story Award, the Crazyhorse Fiction Prize, an AWP Intro Journals award. His short stories have appeared in AGNI, Gettysburg Review, New England Review, Epoch, Harvard Review, American Short Fiction, and elsewhere.
Personal life
Anthony Varallo was born and raised in Yorklyn, Delaware. He attended the University of Delaware where he received a Bachelor’s Degree in both English and History in 1992. In 1997 he graduated from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop with an MFA. There he studied under Marilynne Robinson and was the recipient of the prestigious Iowa Arts Fellowship, the highest fellowship awarded by the program. He also met his wife, writer Malinda McCollum, in the program. He later went on to pursue his PhD in Creative Writing at the University of Missouri in 2005 where he was a Senior Advisor in Fiction and Contest Coordinator for the Missouri Review. That fall he joined the Department of English at the College of Charleston in 2005 where he serves as the Fiction Editor of Crazyhorse. He now lives in Charleston, South Carolina with his wife and two children.
Books
Everyone Was There (stories), Queen’s Ferry Press, 2016
Think of Me and I’ll Know (stories), TriQuarterly Books/Northwestern University Press, 2013
Out Loud (stories), University of Pittsburgh Press, 2008
This Day in History (stories), University of Iowa Press, 2005
Works in Anthologies
“A Tiny Raft,” short story. The Best Stories from Boulevard, 1985-2015, Volume 1, Boulevard Magazine, St. Louis University, Spring 2015.
“In the Age of Automobiles,” short story. On the Mason Dixon Line: An Anthology of Contemporary Delaware Writers. University of Delaware Press, Fall 2008.
“The Miles Between Harriet Tubman and Harry Truman,” short story. The Long Meanwhile: Stories of Arrival and Departure. Hourglass Books, Fall 2007.
Fellowships
Emerging Writer Fellowship, The Writer’s Center, Bethesda, MD, 2010
National Endowment for the Arts, Fellowship in Literature, 2002.
Creative Writing Fellowship, University of Missouri-Columbia, 2000.
Iowa Arts Fellowship, University of Iowa, 1995.
Awards and Distinctions
2016 Elixir Press Fiction Prize. Elixir Press, Denver, CO.
2014 Expecting Goodness Film Festival, Spartanburg, SC. Story selected to be made into short film in statewide competition.
2013 Balcones Fiction Prize, Austin Community College. Finalist for Think of Me and I’ll Know.
The 2012 Micro Award. Finalist for “All Very Surprising.”
The 2011 Micro Award. Finalist for “My Enemy.”
The StorySouth Million Writers Award, Notable Stories of 2009, for “The Boy,” from AGNI Online.
World’s Best Short Short Story Contest, The Southeast Review, 2009. Finalist.
The Indiana Review 1/2 K Prize, Indiana Review, 2009. Finalist.
Mid-American Review Fineline Competition. Mid-American Review, 2008. Finalist.
The 2008 Drue Heinz Literature Prize, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2008.
The 2006 Paterson Fiction Prize. Finalist, for This Day in History.
The 2006 South Carolina Fiction Project. Winner.
The John Simmons Short Fiction Award, University of Iowa Press, 2005.
The Journal First Annual Short Story Award, The Journal, 2004. First Place.
Tobias Wolff Award For Fiction, Bellingham Review, 2004. Finalist.
Mahan Fiction Prize, 2004. First Place. University of Missouri-Columbia.
The Indiana Review 1/2 K Prize, Indiana Review, 2003. Finalist.
The Crazyhorse Short Story Award, Crazyhorse, 2002. First Prize.
The H.E. Francis Literary Award, University of Alabama-Huntsville, 2002. Finalist.
The Atlantic Monthly Student Writing Contest, The Atlantic Monthly, 2002. Honorable Mention.
River City Writing Awards, River City, 2002. Second Place.
Mahan Fiction Prize, 2002. First Prize. University of Missouri-Columbia.
The Atlantic Monthly Student Writing Contest, The Atlantic Monthly, 2001. Third Place.
Association of Writing Programs Intro Journals Award, 2001.
Mahan Fiction Prize, 2001. First Prize. University of Missouri-Columbia.
The Atlantic Monthly Student Writing Contest, The Atlantic Monthly, 2000. Honorable Mention.
Carson McCullers Prize for the Short Story, STORY Magazine, 1999. Honorable Mention.
Mississippi Review Prize for Fiction, Mississippi Review, 1998. Finalist.
Carson McCullers Prize for the Short Story, STORY Magazine, 1998. Honorable Mention.
Fred Exley Prize For Fiction, Gentlemen’s Quarterly, 1997. Finalist.
STORY Magazine Short-Short Competition, STORY, 1997. Honorable Mention.
Thomas Molyneux Fiction Award, University of Delaware, Caesura Magazine, 1991. First Prize.