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Chad Simpson

Associate Professor of English

Chad Simpson

Meet Professor Simpson

Years at Knox: 2005-present

"I currently have three manuscripts in progress: a novel in the form of linked short stories, a young adult novel set in a fictional town called Twilight, Indiana, and a series of texts comprised of my feedback-marginalia, imagistic thoughts, end notes, etc.-to works written by students and professional writers.

I began writing stories mostly because the works of other writers moved me-and because I wanted to be able to similarly move some potential reader who might find something I'd written in her hands. I am drawn to image and syntax and story, to the inexplicable thing that happens when our brains begin to negotiate and make sense of the language of others."

Education

M.F.A., 2005, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
B.A., 1998, Monmouth College.

Teaching Interests

Fiction writing, creative nonfiction, modern and contemporary literature, flash fiction, the short-short story, graphic novels.

Selected Professional Accomplishments

Honors/Grants

  • Winner, 2012 John Simmons Short Fiction Award, Juried by Jim Shepard, University of Iowa Press.
  • Finalist, 2011 Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Fiction.
  • Finalist, 2011 Mary McCarthy Prize in Fiction.
  • Philip Green Wright-Lombard College Prize for Distinguished Teaching, 2010.
  • Finalist, 2009 Mary McCarthy Prize in Fiction.
  • Tennessee Williams Scholarship, Sewanee Writers' Conference, 2007.
  • Work-Study ("Waiter") Scholarship, Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, 2007.
  • Illinois Arts Council Fellowship in Prose, 2006.

Publications

"No More Ghosts," No Tokens 5 ( 2016): 122-134.

"Resources," Winter Tangerine Review 2 (Winter 2014): 73-77.

"I Later Learned the Fish was a Gar," Quiddity International Literary Journal and Radio Program. Vol. 7, No. 1. Spring/Summer 2014. 120-121.

"Dearest Miljana," WhiskeyPaper. August 2014.

"Woodwinds," Newfound Journal. December 2014.

Tell Everyone I Said Hi, University of Iowa Press, forthcoming.

Phantoms, a chapbook, Origami Zoo Press, 2010.

Essays and stories have appeared in about forty print and online journals including, McSweeney's Quarterly, Esquire, The Sun, Crab Orchard Review, Five Chapters, The Rumpus, Barrelhouse, The Collagist, Fifth Wednesday Journal, Sycamore Review, Gulf Stream, Versal, New South, SmokeLong Quarterly, and Wigleaf. Work has been anthologized in You Must Be This Tall to Ride: Contemporary Writers Take You Inside the Story and in New Stories from the Midwest 2011.

Presentations

Chad Simpson Presents "Write Your Story: Napkin Fiction," Phoenix College, Phoenix, AZ. April 2016.

Readings at the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, the Sewanee Writers' Conference, Chatham University, the University of Alabama, and Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

Campus & Community Involvement

  • Faculty Advisor for Catch, beginning Fall 2012.
  • Faculty Advisor for Writers' Forum, 2007-2012.

What Students Say

  • Chad Simpson is brilliant and generous and funny. He has a knack for really getting at the heart of whatever story you're trying to tell--and he always meets your work on its own terms. Students in his classes are treated as fellow writers, equals, and Chad always makes himself available for whatever help a student might need, in or out of class. He wants to see you succeed.

    Sam Martone

    Creative Writing Major