Amina Gautier is an American writer and academic. She is the author of three short story collections, many individual stories, as well as works of literary criticism.

Early life and education

Gautier was born and raised in New York. After participating in

Prep for Prep Prep for Prep is a leadership development and gifted education program dedicated to expanding educational access to students of color. The organization's programs are targeted toward high achieving New York City minority students and helps with ...

, she attended the

Nightingale Bamford School The Nightingale-Bamford School is an independent all-female university-preparatory school founded in 1920 by Frances Nicolau Nightingale and Maya Stevens Bamford. Located in Manhattan on the Upper East Side, Nightingale-Bamford is a member of th ...

before graduating from

Northfield Mount Hermon Northfield Mount Hermon School, often called NMH, is a co-educational college-preparatory school, preparatory school in Gill, Massachusetts, in the United States. It is a member of the Eight Schools Association. Present day NMH offers nearly 20 ...

. She then went to

Stanford Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is considere ...

, where she earned bachelor's and master's degrees in

English literature English literature is literature written in the English language from United Kingdom, its crown dependencies, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, and the countries of the former British Empire. ''The Encyclopaedia Britannica'' defines E ...

. She continued her education at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

, where she earned a master's degree and a Ph.D. in English literature. She held a Mellon Minority Undergraduate Fellowship at

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

, a Fontaine Fellowship at the

, a Mitchem Dissertation Fellowship at

Marquette University Marquette University () is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Established by the Society of Jesus as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, it was founded by John Henni, John Martin ...

, and a Postdoctoral Fellowship at

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

Career

Gautier is a scholar of 19th century American literature. She has written criticism of the nineteenth century American authors

Charles W. Chesnutt Charles Waddell Chesnutt (June 20, 1858 – November 15, 1932) was an American author, essayist, political activist and lawyer, best known for his novels and short stories exploring complex issues of racial and social identity in the post-Ci ...

Paul Laurence Dunbar Paul Laurence Dunbar (June 27, 1872 – February 9, 1906) was an American poet, novelist, and short story writer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Born in Dayton, Ohio, to parents who had been enslaved in Kentucky before the American C ...

, Elleanor Eldridge,

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...

Harriet Beecher Stowe Harriet Elisabeth Beecher Stowe (; June 14, 1811 – July 1, 1896) was an American author and abolitionist. She came from the religious Beecher family and became best known for her novel ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' (1852), which depicts the harsh ...

and

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among t ...

. Her critical essays and reviews have appeared in ''

African American Review ''African American Review'' (''AAR'') is a scholarly aggregation of essays on African-American literature, theatre, film, the visual arts, and culture; interviews; poetry; fiction; and book reviews. The journal has featured writers and cultural c ...

'', ''

Belles Lettres is a category of writing, originally meaning beautiful or fine writing. In the modern narrow sense, it is a label for literary works that do not fall into the major categories such as fiction, poetry, or drama. The phrase is sometimes used pejora ...

'', ''

Daedalus In Greek mythology, Daedalus (, ; Greek: Δαίδαλος; Latin: ''Daedalus''; Etruscan: ''Taitale'') was a skillful architect and craftsman, seen as a symbol of wisdom, knowledge and power. He is the father of Icarus, the uncle of Perdix, an ...

'', ''

Journal of American History ''The Journal of American History'' is the official academic journal of the Organization of American Historians. It covers the field of American history and was established in 1914 as the ''Mississippi Valley Historical Review'', the official jo ...

'', '' Libraries and Culture'', ''Nineteenth Century Contexts'' and ''Whitman Noir''. She has received fellowships from the Northeast Modern Language Association (NeMLA), the Social Science Research Council and the

Woodrow Wilson Foundation The Woodrow Wilson Foundation was an educational non-profit created in 1921, organized under the laws of New York, for the "perpetuation of Wilson's ideals" via periodic grants to worthy groups and individuals. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the chai ...

Writer

Gautier has published more than 85 short stories. Her fiction has appeared in a wide variety of magazines and story collections, and some of her stories have been reprinted in anthologies. Her collection of short stories, ''Now We Will Be Happy'', won the

Prairie Schooner ''Prairie Schooner'' is a literary magazine published quarterly at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln with the cooperation of UNL's English Department and the University of Nebraska Press. It is based in Lincoln, Nebraska and was first publish ...

Book Prize, and her second collection, ''At-Risk'', won the

Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction The Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction is an annual prize awarded by the University of Georgia Press named in honor of the American short story writer and novelist Flannery O'Connor. Established in 1983 to encourage young writers by bringi ...

. In 2016, Gautier published her third short story collection, ''The Loss of All Lost Things'' (Elixir Press).

Awards

Gautier has been the recipient of the Crazyhorse Prize, the Danahy Fiction Prize, the Jack Dyer Prize, the William Richey Prize, the Schlafly Microfiction Award and the Lamar York Prize in Fiction.

Teacher

Gautier has taught at the

Saint Joseph's University Saint Joseph's University (SJU or St. Joe's) is a private Jesuit university in Philadelphia and Lower Merion, Pennsylvania. The university was founded by the Society of Jesus in 1851 as Saint Joseph's College. Saint Joseph's is the seventh olde ...

and

. Most recently, Gautier taught at

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private, Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th-centu ...

. In fall 2014, she joined the faculty in the MFA program at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, incl ...

.Jeffrey Condran
"Now We Will Be Happy by Amina Gautier"
''Necessary Fiction'', January 11, 2016.

References

External links

Interview with Gautier, Derek Alger, ''pif Magazine'' (2012)

Interview with Gautier, Julia Brown, ''Mosaic Magazine'' (2016)

Interview with Gautier, Claire Martin, ''Hair Trigger'' (2017)

Interview with Gautier, Jennifer Maritza McCauley, ''Fiction Writers Review'' (2018)

Interview with Gautier, Bret Meier, ''Pleiades'' (2019)

Interview with Gautier, ''Arts and Letters'', NPR (2020)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gautier, Amina Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American short story writers American literary critics American women literary critics Delta Sigma Theta members Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction winners Writers from Chicago Writers from Florida Writers from New York City Stanford University alumni University of Pennsylvania alumni DePaul University faculty Marquette University faculty University of Miami faculty University of Pennsylvania faculty Washington University in St. Louis faculty Northfield Mount Hermon School alumni 21st-century American non-fiction writers Nightingale-Bamford School alumni Washington University in St. Louis fellows