Varley O'Connor is an American novelist and short story writer. She is an associate professor at

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a public research university in Kent, Ohio. The university also includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio and additional facilities in the region and internationally. Regional campuses are located in ...

Biography

Having earned a BFA in acting from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...

, O’Connor worked for several years as an actress. She enrolled in the Programs in Writing at the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and p ...

, graduating with an MFA (fiction emphasis) in 1989. O'Connor's teaching credentials include University of California at Irvine, Hofstra University, Brooklyn College, and

Marymount Manhattan College Marymount Manhattan College is a private college on the Upper East Side of New York City. As of 2020, enrollment consists of 1,571 undergraduates with women making up 80.1% and men 19.9% of student enrollment. The college was founded in 1936. Hi ...

. She has also taught for the North Carolina Writers’ Network and for the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley.

Works

O'Connor has published four novels, all of which have been critically acclaimed: ''Like China'' (William Morrow, 1991),'' A Company of Three'' (Algonquin Books, 2003), ''The Cure,'' and
The Master's Muse
' (Scribner, 2012). She currently teaches both fiction and nonfiction creative writing at Kent State University. O'Connor has also published a number of short stories. Recent short prose has appeared in ''The Missouri Review'','' Santa Monica Review'','' Publishers Weekly'','' AWP Writer's Chronicle'', and '' The Sun''.The Sun
Magazine article O'Connor's novels deal with disparate elements: domestic marital abuse in ''Like China''; the struggle to balance friendship, love and success in the acting world in ''A Company of Three;'' the flow and complexities of relationships in an extended family, set against a background of illness and wartime life in ''The Cure;'' and the relationship between Tanaquil LeClercq and George Balanchine in ''The Master's Muse''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnor, Varley Living people 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American women novelists American women short story writers Kent State University faculty 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers 20th-century American short story writers 21st-century American short story writers Novelists from Ohio Year of birth missing (living people) Brooklyn College faculty American women academics