Christine Sneed is an American author — the novels ''Little Known Facts'' (2013), ''Paris, He Said'' (2015), and ''Please Be Advised'' (2022), and the story collections ''Portraits of a Few of the People I've Made Cry'' (2010), ''The Virginity of Famous Men'' (2016), and ''Direct Sunlight'' (2023) — as well as a graduate-level fiction professor at Northwestern University. She also teaches creative writing for Stanford University Continuing Studies. She is the recipient of the

Chicago Public Library The Chicago Public Library (CPL) is the public library system that serves the Chicago, City of Chicago in the U.S. state of Illinois. It consists of 81 locations, including a central library, three regional libraries, and branches distributed thr ...

Foundation's 21st Century Award, the John C. Zacharis First Book Award (via ''

Ploughshares ''Ploughshares'' is an American literary journal established in 1971 by DeWitt Henry and Peter O'Malley in The Plough and Stars, an Irish pub in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Since 1989, ''Ploughshares'' has been based at Emerson College in Bost ...

''), the Society of Midland Authors Award, the 2009

AWP AWP may refer to: Organizations Political parties *American Workers Party *Animal Welfare Party, a political party in the United Kingdom * Australian Workers Party, a political party in Australia *Awami Workers Party, a left-wing political party ...

Grace Paley Prize for Short Fiction, and the Chicago Writers' Association Book of the Year Award in both 2011 and 2017.

Life

Born September 24, 1971, Sneed grew up in

Green Bay, Wisconsin Green Bay is a city in Brown County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the head of Green Bay (Lake Michigan), Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the F ...

, and

Libertyville, Illinois Libertyville is a village in Libertyville Township, Lake County, Illinois, Libertyville Township, Lake County, Illinois, United States. It is located west of Lake Michigan, approximately 40 miles north of the Chicago Loop. As such, it is part o ...

. She earned an undergraduate degree from

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

, where she studied French language and literature, and a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, IUB, or Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana Univer ...

. Sneed's work has appeared in the anthologies ''

The Best American Short Stories 2008 ''The Best American Short Stories 2008'', a volume in ''The Best American Short Stories series'', was edited by Heidi Pitlor and by guest editor Salman Rushdie.Pitor, Heidi and Rushdie, Salman (editors), ''The Best American Short Stories 2008'' H ...

'', ''The PEN/

O. Henry William Sydney Porter (September 11, 1862 – June 5, 1910), better known by his pen name O. Henry, was an American writer known primarily for his short stories, though he also wrote poetry and non-fiction. His works include "The Gift of the Ma ...

Prize Stories 2012'', and ''New Stories from the Midwest 2016''; the literary journals ''Ploughshares'', ''New England Review'', ''The Southern Review'', ''Meridian'', ''Glimmer Train'', ''Pleiades'', ''The Massachusetts Review'', and ''The Greensboro Review''; and ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

'', and ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'' as well as other publications. She lives in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...

Works

* ''Direct Sunlight'' (

TriQuarterly ''TriQuarterly'' is a name shared by an American literary magazine and a series of books. The journal is published twice a year under the aegis of the Northwestern University Department of English and features fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama ...

), June 15, 2023. * ''Please Be Advised'' (7.13 Books), October 18, 2022. * ''The Virginity of Famous Men'' (

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London, part of the London Borough of Camden in England. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural institution, cultural, intellectual, and educational ...

), September 13, 2016. * ''Paris, He Said'' (Bloomsbury), May 5, 2015. * ''Little Known Facts'' (Bloomsbury), February 12, 2013. * ''Portraits of a Few of the People I’ve Made Cry'' (

University of Massachusetts Press The University of Massachusetts Press is a university press that is part of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The press was founded in 1963, publishing scholarly books and non-fiction. The press imprint is overseen by an interdisciplinar ...

), November 30, 2010. * ''The PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories 2012'' (Anchor); short story "The First Wife," April 17, 2012. * ''The Best American Short Stories 2008'' (Houghton Mifflin); short story "Quality of Life," October 8, 2008. as editor: * ''Love in the Time of Time's Up'' (Tortoise Books), October 4, 2022.

Reviews

* * * *
"Interview with the Second Wife" by Christine Sneed
''The Collagist'', Lori Ostlund

Awards and honors

*Chicago Writers' Association Book of the Year Award (2011 and 2017) *Illinois Reads selection (2016) *Chicago Review of Books Fiction Award, Finalist (2016) *Society of Midland Authors Award, Best Adult Fiction (2013) *21st Century Award, Chicago Public Library Foundation (2013) *''Chicago Magazines Best New Book by a New Author (2013) *O. Henry Prize (2012) *John C. Zacharis Award—Ploughshares' First Book Award (2011) *Art Seidenbaum/Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Finalist, First fiction category (2011) *Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, long-listed (2011) *Grace Paley Prize in Short Fiction (2009)

References

External links

*
Review of ''The Virginity of Famous Men''
''Los Angeles Review of Books''

''Chicago Tribune''
Interview with Christine Sneed
''Zyzzyva''
An Interview with Christine Sneed
''EPL'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Sneed, Christine Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American short story writers DePaul University faculty Indiana University Bloomington alumni Georgetown University College of Arts & Sciences alumni