Peter Selgin (; born 1957) is an American novelist, short story writer, playwright, essayist, editor, and illustrator. Selgin is Associate Professor of English at

Georgia College & State University Georgia College & State University (Georgia College or GC) is a public liberal arts university in Milledgeville, Georgia. The university enrolls approximately 7,000 students and is a member of the University System of Georgia and the Council ...

in Milledgeville, Georgia.

Biography

The son of Italian immigrants, Peter Selgin was born in

Bethesda, Maryland Bethesda () is an unincorporated, census-designated place in southern Montgomery County, Maryland. It is located just northwest of Washington, D.C. It takes its name from a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which in ...

, grew up in

Bethel, Connecticut Bethel () is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. Its population was 11,988 in 2022 according to World Population Review. The town includes the Bethel Census Designated Place. Interstate 84 passes through Bethel, and it has ...

, and attended Bethel High School. Following high school, he attended Pratt Institute in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, New York, where he studied film, theater and visual art. He later attended

Bard College Bard College is a private liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains, and is within the Hudson River Historic District—a National Historic Landmark. Founded in 1860, ...

, and earned his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

in English from

Western Connecticut State University Western Connecticut State University (WCSU and WestConn) is a public university in Danbury, Connecticut. It was founded in 1903 as a teacher's college and is part of the Connecticut State University System. WCSU consists of four schools: the An ...

. In addition to writing plays and stories, he worked as a visual artist—including as a

caricaturist A caricaturist is an artist who specializes in drawing caricatures. List of caricaturists * Abed Abdi (born 1942) * Al Hirschfeld (1903–2003) * Alex Gard (1900–1948) * Alexander Saroukhan (1898–1977) * Alfred Grévin (1827–1892) * Alf ...

, illustrator, and painter. Nerve damage to his hand from a dog attack in 1981 temporarily sidelined his career. Selgin's injury and its aftermath are the subject of

The Best American Essays ''The Best American Essays'' is a yearly anthology of magazine articles published in the United States.Robert Atwan (ed.), Adam Gopnick (guest ed.). ''The Best American Essays 2008'', Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008. It was started in 1986 and is ...

"Confessions of a Left-Handed Man." Selgin earned his Master of Fine Arts degree from the

New School University The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

in 2005. , he is an Associate Professor in the MFA program at

in Milledgeville, Georgia. He previously taught creative writing at

Antioch College Antioch College is a private liberal arts college in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Christian Connection, the college began operating in 1852 as a non-sectarian institution; politician and education reformer Horace Mann was its ...

in Los Angeles,

Montclair State University Montclair State University (MSU) is a public research university in Montclair, New Jersey, with parts of the campus extending into Little Falls. As of fall 2018, Montclair State was, by enrollment, the second largest public university in New ...

in New Jersey, and

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

, among other universities and colleges. He has also taught creative writing at various community organizations, including the

Gotham Writers' Workshop Gotham Writers Workshop is the United States's largest adult-education writing school. It was founded in New York City in 1993 by writers Jeff Fligelman and David Grae. It was one of the first schools to offer online education, launching its onl ...

The Center for Fiction The Center for Fiction, originally called the New York Mercantile Library, is a not-for-profit organization in New York City, with offices at 15 Lafayette Avenue in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Prior to their move in early 2018, The Center for Fiction ...

(formerly, the Mercantile Library for Fiction), and the Bronx Writers' Center, among others. For several summers, he has organized and led a week-long creative writing workshop in

Vitorchiano Vitorchiano is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Viterbo in the Italian region Latium, located about northwest of Rome and about northeast of Viterbo. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 3,690 and an area of .All demograph ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. Selgin was the Viebranz Distinguished Writer-in-Residence at St. Lawrence University in

Canton, New York Canton is an incorporated Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in St. Lawrence County, New York, St. Lawrence County, New York (state), New York. The population was 11,638 at the time of the 2020 census. The town contains two Administr ...

. Selgin is also the creative non-fiction editor of Arts & Letters, a national literary journal published by the MFA Creative Writing program at

. His twin brother,

George Selgin George Selgin (; born 1957) is an American economist. He is Senior Fellow and Director Emeritus of the Cato Institute's Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives, where he is editor-in-chief of the center's blog, ''Alt-M'', Professor Emeritu ...

is Director of the

Cato Institute The Cato Institute is an American libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Ed Crane, Murray Rothbard, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Koch Industries.Koch Ind ...

's Center for Monetary & Financial Alternatives. His half-sister,

Clare Selgin Wolfowitz Clare Selgin Wolfowitz (born November 1945) is an American anthropologist with a specialism in Indonesia. She currently works at the IRIS center at the University of Maryland, College Park in the Governance Institutions Group, primarily on its proj ...

, is an editor and expert in Indonesian anthropology.

Works

Fiction Selgin's debut

short story 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 ...

collection, ''Drowning Lessons'' (2008), won the 2007

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 ...

. His first novel, ''Life Goes to the Movies'' (2009) was a finalist for both the James Jones First Novel Fellowship and the Association of Writers & Writing Programs Award for the Novel. His second novel, "The Water Master," won the 2011 William Faulkner-William Wisdom prize for best novel. His third novel, ''Duplicity'' (2020), was a finalist for the 2020

Elixir Press Elixir Press is an American, independent, nonprofit literary press located in Denver, Colorado. The press was founded by Dana Curtis in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 2000 and relocated to Denver in 2004. Authors published by Elixir Press include ...

Book Prize, the 2020 Steel Toe Boots Book Prize, and the 2019 CRAFT First Chapter Contest. Non-fiction Selgin is also the author of two

non-fiction Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with b ...

books on the craft of fiction writing, ''By Cunning & Craft'', and ''179 Ways to Save a Novel''. His first book of essays, ''Confessions of a Left-Handed Man,'' was published by the

University of Iowa Press The University of Iowa Press is a university press that is part of the University of Iowa. Established in 1969, thUniversity of Iowa Pressis an academic publisher of poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction. The UI Press is the only universit ...

/ Sightline Books in October 2011. His memoir, "The Inventors," was published by Hawthorne Books in 2016. It won the 2017 Housatonic Book Award for non-fiction. His book on the craft of narrative fiction and non-fiction, "Your First Page: First Pages and What They Tell Us About the Pages That Follow Them," was published in 2017 by Serving House Books. Plays As a playwright, Selgin has been a three-time finalist for the Eugene O’Neill Center National Playwrights Conference Award. His stage drama, ''A God in the House,'' based on

Dr. Jack Kevorkian Murad Jacob "Jack" Kevorkian (May 26, 1928 – June 3, 2011) was an American pathologist and euthanasia proponent. He publicly championed a terminal patient's right to die by physician-assisted suicide, embodied in his quote, "Dying is not ...

and his “suicide machine,” was presented there in 1991, and subsequently optioned for off-Broadway. ''A God in the House'' also won the Mill Mountain Theatre New Plays Competition (1990). ''Night Blooming Serious,'' another full-length drama, won the Charlotte Repertory New Plays Festival Competition (1993). Visual art Selgin's illustrations and paintings have been featured in

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

Gourmet Gourmet (, ) is a cultural idea associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drink, or haute cuisine, which is characterized by refined, even elaborate preparations and presentations of aesthetically balanced meals of several contrasting, of ...

, Outside,

Fine Gardening ''Fine Gardening'' is a magazine for gardening enthusiasts of all skill levels covering the basics of garden design with advice from horticulture experts and landscape professionals. The focus is more on ornamental plants and home landscaping rath ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...

, ''U.S. Art'', ''American Illustration'', Time-Out New York, the

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

, and

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

, as well as

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

Weekend Edition ''Weekend Edition'' is a set of American radio news magazine programs produced and distributed by National Public Radio (NPR). It is the weekend counterpart to the NPR radio program '' Morning Edition''. It consists of ''Weekend Edition Saturday ...

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

Good Day New York ''Good Day New York'' is a morning show airing on WNYW Fox 5 (channel 5), hosted by Rosanna Scotto and Bianca Peters. It is a Fox owned-and-operated television station in New York City, owned by the Fox Television Stations subsidiary of Fox C ...

, and

CNBC CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk sho ...

's ''Great Stuff''. As a commercial artist, he storyboarded several motion picture scenes, including the gargoyle special effects sequences in

Tales from the Darkside ''Tales from the Darkside'' is an American anthology horror TV series created by George A. Romero. Debuting in October 1983 with a pilot episode and then being picked up for syndication in September 1984, the show ran for 4 seasons through Ju ...

. For eight years, beginning in 2005, he served as art director of ''Alimentum: The Literature of Food''. He is currently art director of Arts & Letters, a national literary journal operating from the MFA program at Georgia College in Milledgeville, Georgia. Selgin is also a book cover designer. Children's books Selgin has also written and illustrated several picture books for children, including, ''S.S. Gigantic Across the Atlantic''.

Awards

* “Duplicity,” Semi-Finalist 2020

Book Prize * “Duplicity,” Finalist 2020 Steel Toe Boots Book Prize * “Duplicity,” Finalist 2019 Craft First Chapter Contest * “The Inventors,” Winner, 2017 Housatonic Book Award for Nonfiction * “The Opening Credits to Rebel Without a Cause,” Best American Notable Essay 2018 * “Noise,” Best American Notable Essay, 2017 * “The Strange Case of Arthur Silz,” Pushcart Prize Nomination, 2017 * "The Water Master," Semi-Finalist: Big Moose Prize, Black Lawrence Press, May 2016 * "Hattertown," Semi-Finalist: Big Moose Prize, Black Lawrence Press, April 2015 * "The Inventors, a Memoir," First Finalist / Second Place, AWP Award for Creative Nonfiction, June 2014 * “My New York: A Romance in Eight Parts,” Best American Travel Writing 2014, Selected by Guest Editor Paul Theroux, January 2014 * “My New York: A Romance in Eight Parts,” Best American Essays 2014, (John Jeremiah Sullivan: Series Editor), Best Notable Essay, 2014 * “The Kuhreihen Melody,” Best American Essay 2013 (

Cheryl Strayed Cheryl Strayed (; née Nyland; born September 17, 1968) is an American writer and podcast host. She has written four books: the novel ''Torch'' (2006) and the nonfiction books '' Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail'' (2012), '' Ti ...

: Guest Editor), Best Notable Essay, 2013 * “The Kuhreihen Melody,” Pushcart Nomination (by Pushcart Distinguished Editorial Board member Wally Lamb), 2013 * "Confessions of a Left-Handed Man: An Artist's Memoir," Short-Listed, William Saroyan Prize for International Writing, 2012 * "The Water Master," Finalist, Dana Award for Novel, 2012 * “The Kuhreihen Melody”, Winner, The Dana Award in the Essay category, 2012 * “The Kuhreihen Melody”, Winner, Essay category,

The Missouri Review ''The Missouri Review'' is a literary magazine founded in 1978 by the University of Missouri. It publishes fiction, poetry, and creative non-fiction quarterly. With its open submission policy, ''The Missouri Review'' receives 12,000 manuscripts ...

Editor's Prize, 2012 * "The Water Master," William Faulkner-William Wisdom prize for best Novel, 2012 * “Alone: Two Types of Solitude”, Best American Notable Essay, 2011 * “Titanic Obsession”, Second Prize,

Editor's Prize, 2011 * Finalist, ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year, ''Life Goes to the Movies'', 2010 * “Dead to Rights: Confessions of a Caricaturist”, Best American Notable Essay, 2009 * Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Residency Fellowship, 2009, 2008 * “A Pre-Victorian Bathtub”, Best American Notable Essay, 2008 * ''Restaurant'', Best American Notable Essay, 2007 * ''Drowning Lessons,''

, 2007 * ''A God in the House,'' Winner, Stage 3 Theatre New Play Festival, 2007 * Bronx Arts Council Fellowship, 2007 * “Confessions of a Left-Handed Man,” Best American Essays 2006, Selected by Guest Editor Lauren Slater, 2006 * Second Place, Association of Writers & Writing Programs Award for the Novel, '' Best American Essay'', 2006 *

Glimmer Train ''Glimmer Train'' was an American short story literary journal. It was published quarterly, accepting works primarily from emerging writers. Stories published in ''Glimmer Train'' were listed in ''The Best American Short Stories'', as well as appe ...

Very Short Fiction Award, ''Man in the White Car'', 2001 * Blue Mountain Center, Residency Fellowship, 1999 * Mill Mountain Theatre New Plays Award, ''A God in the House'', 1992 * National Playwright's Conference Award, ''A God in the House'', 1991 * Charlotte Repertory New Plays Award, ''Night Blooming Serious'', 1991

Books

* ''S. S. Gigantic Across the Atlantic'' (1999),

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pu ...

, * ''By Cunning & Craft: Sound Advice and Practical Wisdom for Fiction Writers'' (2007),

Writer's Digest Books ''Writer's Digest'' is an American magazine aimed at beginning and established writers. It contains interviews, market listings, calls for manuscripts, and how-to articles. History ''Writer's Digest'' was first published in December 1920 under ...

, * ''Drowning Lessons'' (2008),

University of Georgia Press The University of Georgia Press or UGA Press is the university press of the University of Georgia, a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Athens, Georgia. It is the oldest and largest publishing house in Georgia and a ...

, * ''Life Goes to the Movies'' (2009),

Dzanc Books Dzanc Books is an American independent press book publisher. It is a non-profit 501(c)(3) private foundation. Michelle Dotter is publisher and editor-in-chief. Background Dzanc Books was founded in 2006 by Steven Gillis, a lawyer turned novelis ...

, * ''179 Ways to Save a Novel: Matters of Vital Concern to Fiction Writers'' (2010)

, * ''Confessions of a Left-Handed Man'' (2011),

/ Sightline Books * ''The Inventors'' (2016), Hawthorne Books and Literary Arts * ''Your First Page: First Pages and What They Tell Us About the Pages that Follow Them'' (2018), Serving House Books * ''Your First Page'' Revised Classroom Edition (2019), Broadview Press * ''The Kuhreihen Melody: Nostalgic Essays'' (2019), Serving House Books * ''Duplicity'' (2020), Serving House Books.

References

External links

Official website
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Selgin, Peter Living people 1957 births Georgia College & State University faculty Western Connecticut State University alumni The New School alumni American male writers Bethel High School (Connecticut) alumni