John Michael Cummings

John Michael Cummings (born 1963, Harpers Ferry, West Virginia) is an American award-winning novelist and short story writer. He is the author of the novels The Night I Freed John Brown and Don't Forget Me, Bro and the short story collection Ugly To Start With, along with numerous uncollected short stories and essays published in literary journals.

Cummings was born in 1963 in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia. He holds a BA in studio arts and graphic design from George Mason University and an MFA in creative writing from University of Central Florida.

Cummings is the author of the young adult novel The Night I Freed John Brown (Penguin Group), which won the Paterson Prize for Books for Young Readers and was selected by USA Today for Black History Month. His short story collection, Ugly To Start With (West Virginia University Press) was a finalist in the Foreword INDIES Book of Year Award. House of My Father was a finalist in the Miami University Novella Contest and semi-finalist in the Winnow Press First Book Award for Fiction.

Cummings’ latest novel, Don’t Forget Me, Bro (Stephen F. Austin State University Press) has been widely excerpted in the Chicago Tribune.

In the last twenty years, Cummings has published more than one hundred short stories. Publishers include The Iowa Review, Kenyon Review, and North American Review. His short fiction has been twice-nominated for the Pushcart Prize and received an Honorable Mention in The Best American Short Stories series. 

Cummings taught English at Seminole State College of Florida. He has written business news for the Fairfax Times, essays for Richmond Free Press and The Providence Journal, and alternative news for the Utne Reader.