Melanie Rae Thon

Melanie Rae Thon (born 1957, last name pronounced "tone") is an American fiction writer known for work that moves beyond and between genres as it explores diversity from a multitude of human and more-than-human perspectives.

Biography

Thon was born in Kalispell, Montana. She received a B.A. in English from the University of Michigan in 1980 and an M.A. in creative writing from Boston University in 1982. She has taught at Emerson College, the University of Massachusetts Boston, Syracuse University, Ohio State University, and the University of Utah.

Writing

Thon's most recent books, chapbooks, and fine art editions are ''Silence & Song'' (2015); ''The 7th Man'' (2015); ''The Bodies of Birds'' (2019); ''Lover'' (2019); and ''The Good Samaritan Speaks'' (2015). She is also the author of the novels ''The Voice of the River'' (2011); ''Sweet Hearts'' (2001); ''Meteors in August'' (1990); and ''Iona Moon'' (1993); and the story collections ''In This Light'' (2011); ''Girls in the Grass'' (1991); and ''First, Body'' (1997). Her work has been included in ''Best American Short Stories'' (1995, 1996); three Pushcart Prize Anthologies (2003, 2006, 2008); and ''O. Henry Prize Stories'' (2006). In 1996, ''Granta'' included Thon on its list of the Twenty Best Young American Novelists.

Awards

Thon is a recipient of a Fellowship in Creative Arts from The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (2016), a Whiting Writer's Award (1997), the Hopwood Award (1980), two Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts (1992, 2008), the Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association Reading the West Book Award (2012), the Gina Berriault Award (2012), and a Lannan Foundation Writer's Residency in Marfa, Texas (2005). In 2009, she was Virgil C. Aldrich Fellow at the Tanner Humanities Center.

Works

Books

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**"Little White Sister," Originally Published in ''Ploughshares'', Winter 1993-1994
**"Xmas, Jamaica Plain," Originally Published in ''Granta 54: Best of Young American Novelists'', Summer 1996
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Stories & Essays

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The Gospel of Grief & Grace & Gratitude
” ''AGNI'', July 2018 (Reprinted b
Fiction Collective Two

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Galaxies Beyond Violet
�� ''Five Points'', Vol 40, Spring 2013
*“Music & Meaning,” ''Architectures of Possibility: After Innovative Fiction'', edited by Trevor Dodge and Lance Olsen, Guide Dog Books, 2012 (Reprinted b


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The Heart Breaks and Breaks Open
” ''Glimmer Train'', Bulletin 56, 2011

Love Song for the Mother of No Children
” ''Virginia Quarterly Review'', Spring 2008
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Translation
” ''SmokeLong Quarterly'', Sept 2006
*"Tu B'Shvat: for the Drowned and the Saved,"
The Antioch Review
', Spring 2006
*"Confession for Raymond Good Bird,"
AGNI
', Jan 2006
*"Love Song for Tulanie Rey," 
StoryQuarterly
',  Jan 2006

Letters in the Snow
" ''One Story'', Issue 40, June 2004 (Reprinted in ''O. Henry Prize Stories'' 2006)
*"Dangerous Discoveries," ''The Pushcart Prize Anthology XXVII'', Jan 2003 (Reprinted b
Fiction Collective Two

"The Liberating Visions (and futile flight) of Melanie Little Crow
" ''Image'', Nov 2002
*"The River Woman's Son,"
Ploughshares
', Spring 1997

Necessary Angels
" ''The'' ''Paris Review'',  Fall 1994
*"Little White Sister,"
Ploughshares
', Winter 1993
*"Punishment,"
The Southern Review
', Winter 1990 (Reprinted in
The Hopwood Awards: 75 Years of Prized Writing
', edited by Nicholas Delbanco, Andrea Beauchamp, and Michael Barrett, University of Michigan Press, 2006)
*"Catch You Later,"
Ploughshares
', Fall 1987

External links

Interview with Aaron J. Cance
(2012)

The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation



Q & A with Melanie Rae Thon by Hannah Tinti—One StoryFC2: Melanie Rae ThonInterview with Caryl Phillips
(1993)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thon, Melanie Rae
1957 births
Living people
Emerson College faculty
Syracuse University faculty
University of Utah faculty
Writers from Utah
Ohio State University faculty
University of Massachusetts Boston faculty