Damian Dressick (born 1968) is an American author from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Career

Dressick is the author of the novel ''40 Patchtown'' (Bottom Dog Press, 2020), and the story collection ''Fables of the Deconstruction'' (forthcoming in 2020 fro
CLASH Books
. His story “Four Hard Facts about Water” appeared in ''New Micro: Exceptionally Short Fiction'', an anthology published by

W. W. Norton W. W. Norton & Company is an American publishing company based in New York City. Established in 1923, it has been owned wholly by its employees since the early 1960s. The company is known for its Norton Anthologies (particularly ''The Norton Ant ...

in 2019. Dressick’s fiction work has also appeared in many literary journals, including the '' New Delta Review'', '' McSweeneys'',
Alimentum
', ''

failbetter Failbetter Games is a British video game developer and interactive fiction studio based in London. History Founded in 2009 by Alexis Kennedy and Paul Arendt, Failbetter is chiefly known for its ''Fallen London'' Victorian Gothic franchise (co ...

'', '' Post Road
HeartWood Literary Journal
,

New Orleans Review ''New Orleans Review'', founded in 1968, is a journal of contemporary literature and culture that publishes "poetry, fiction, nonfiction, art, photography, film and book reviews" by established and emerging writers and artists. ''New Orleans Revie ...

', CutBank', Hot Metal Bridge'
Weave
, New World Writing'
SmokeLong Quarterly

Barcelona Review
,'' and
Hobart
'. He has published essays i
''Hippocampus'' ''Magazine''
and
Connotation Press
'. Dressick currently teaches writing at

Clarion University Pennsylvania Western University, Clarion, also known as PennWest Clarion, is a public university campus in Clarion, Pennsylvania. Part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE), the institution was founded in 1867 and offers ...

, where he helps curate Clarion's Visiting Writers Series. He has also taught writing at the University of Pittsburgh, Robert Morris University, and

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

. He designed and taught “Writing the 1000 Word (or less) Story” at the

Pittsburgh Center for the Arts The Pittsburgh Center for the Arts (PCA) is a non-profit community arts campus that offers arts education programs and contemporary art exhibitions in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It also provides services and resources for artists th ...

. He was a residency fellow at th
Blue Mountain Center
and th
Orchard Keeper Writers Residency Program
He serves as fiction editor for the
Northern Appalachia Review
'', and was a founding curator of Pittsburgh’s UPWords Reading Series.

Education

Dressick earned an MFA in fiction writing from the University of Pittsburgh, and holds a PhD in English from th
Center for Writers
at the University of Southern Mississippi, with concentrations in Creative Writing, Contemporary Literature and Postcolonial Literature.

Awards

In 2008 and 2009 Dressick was nominated for the

Pushcart Prize The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are ...

for

short fiction A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...

. He is the winner of the Spire Press 2009 Prose Chapbook Contest for his collection ''Fables of the Deconstruction''. In 2007 he won the

Harriette Arnow Harriette Simpson Arnow (July 7, 1908 – March 22, 1986) was an American novelist and historian, who lived in Kentucky and Michigan. Arnow has been called an expert on the people of the Southern Appalachian Mountains, but she herself loved citie ...

Award for short fiction. In 2018 he won the Jesse Stuart Prize and was a Finalist for the Katherine Anne Porter Prize in Fiction.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dressick, Damian 1968 births 21st-century American novelists American short story writers Writers from Pittsburgh Living people University of Southern Mississippi alumni University of Pittsburgh alumni Clarion University of Pennsylvania faculty Chapbook writers