Josh Emmons (born 1973) is an American novelist who was raised in Northern California. He studied at UC Santa Cruz,

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...

and the

Iowa Writers' Workshop The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a celebrated graduate-level creative writing program in the United States. The writer Lan Samantha Chang is its director. Graduates earn a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Creative Wri ...

(2002). Emmons has an MFA from

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (UI, U of I, UIowa, or simply Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is org ...

, from which he also received a teaching fellowship. Emmons published his first book, ''The Loss of Leon Meed,'' in 2005. Set in his native northern California, about the varied responses of ten small-town residents to a stranger's mysterious appearances and disappearances, it was a Book Sense pick and winner of a James Michener- Copernicus Society of America Award, and has been translated into several languages. His second, ''Prescription for a Superior Existence,'' which explores the intersections of faith, religion and desire, came out in 2008. His latest book, "A Moral Tale and Other Moral Tales," comes out April 2017 by Dzanc. His fiction and non-fiction have been published in various magazines and newspapers. Emmons has taught at the University of the Arts,

Loyola University Chicago Loyola University Chicago (Loyola or LUC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1870 by the Society of Jesus, Loyola is one of the largest Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Cathol ...

, the

, Whitman College, and elsewhere. He has been teaching at

University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public land-grant research university in Riverside, California. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in a suburban distr ...

since at least 2014, having the role of Associate Professor of Creative Writing as of 2023. --
Earliest archived page
from 16 October 2014 One source indicates Emmons lives with his wife in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, but the date is not clear.

Works

Novels

* ''Prescription for a Superior Existence'' (Scribner, 2008) * ''The Loss of Leon Meed'' (Scribner, 2005)

Short stories

Collections

* ''A Moral Tale: And Other Moral Tales''

Essays

Honors

* ''New York Times'' Noteworthy Paperback * PEN Writer's Grant * James Michener-Copernicus Society of America Award * Book Sense Pick

References

External links

Interviews

* * * 21st-century American novelists Oberlin College alumni Loyola University Chicago faculty University of Iowa faculty Whitman College faculty Living people University of the Arts (Philadelphia) faculty American male novelists American male essayists 21st-century American essayists 21st-century American male writers Novelists from Pennsylvania Novelists from Illinois Novelists from Washington (state) Novelists from Iowa Monmouth University faculty 1973 births {{US-novelist-stub