Janet Peery (born July 18, 1948, in

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the List of cities in Kansas, most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397, ...

) is an American

short story writer A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single 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 old ...

and

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

Life

Before she took up writing fiction in her forties, Janet Peery worked at a series of odd jobs, including waiting tables, fast food counter work, lifeguarding and teaching swimming, as a speech therapist, a hospital respiratory technician, and an insurance physical technician. After her three children were in school, she entered a graduate program and since then has published short stories in literary journals including ''Shenandoah'', ''

The Kenyon Review ''The Kenyon Review'' is a literary magazine based in Gambier, Ohio, home of Kenyon College. ''The Review'' was founded in 1939 by John Crowe Ransom, critic and professor of English at Kenyon College, who served as its editor until 1959. ''T ...

'', ''Quarterly West'', ''Black Warrior Review'', ''64 Magazine'', ''Blackbird'', ''Southern Review'', ''Image: Art* Faith* Mystery'', ''Chattahoochee Review'', ''Oklahoma Today'', ''Kansas Quarterly'', ''New Virginia Review'', ''Blackbird'', ''American Short Fiction'', ''StoryQuarterly'', ''Idaho Review'', ''

Southwest Review The ''Southwest Review'' is a literary journal published quarterly at Southern Methodist University campus in Dallas, Texas. Founded in 1915 as the ''Texas Review'', it is the third oldest literary quarterly in the United States. The current ed ...

'', and others. She has won the Seaton Award from

Kansas Quarterly ''Arkansas Review: A Journal of Delta Studies'' is an interdisciplinary humanities journal that focuses on the seven states of the Mississippi River Delta. Each issue of the journal contains fiction, nonfiction, poetic, and visual art works which ...

, the Jeanne Charpiot Goodheart Prize from Washington and Lee University (twice), two Pushcart Prizes and inclusion in The Best of the Pushcart Prize, StoryQuarterly's Fiction Prize, Idaho Review's Editor's Prize, selection for Best American Short Stories 1993 (ed. Louise Erdrich), and six citations for 100 Distinguished Stories from Best American Short Stories. Her novel ''

The River Beyond the World ''The River Beyond the World'' is a 1996 novel by American novelist Janet Peery. Though her debut novel, the novel was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction. The novel follows the relationship of two women on separate sides of the Ri ...

'' was a finalist for the National Book Award in 1996. ''What the Thunder Said'', a novella and stories, won the Library of Virginia Literary Award for Fiction in 2008 and the 2008 WILLA Award from Women Writing the West for Contemporary Fiction. Her novel ''The Exact Nature of Our Wrongs'' will be published in 2017. She taught at

Old Dominion University Old Dominion University (ODU) is a Public university, public research university in Norfolk, Virginia, United States. Established in 1930 as the two-year Norfolk Division of the College of William & Mary, it began by educating people with fewer ...

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, third-most populous city ...

, where she was awarded the honorific University Professor and was the recipient of the Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education in Virginia. She has given readings at many American colleges and universities, has taught at Warren Wilson M.F.A. Program for Writers, Antioch University LA, Sweet Briar College, Glen Workshop at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, Sewanee Writers Conference and other conferences. She has served as Writer in Residence for the National Book Foundation's American Voices Project on the Rosebud Reservation in Mission, South Dakota and Rocky Boy's Reservation in Montana. Peery has a B.A. degree in Speech Pathology and Audiology and a M.F.A. in creative writing from

Wichita State University Wichita State University (WSU) is a public research university in Wichita, Kansas, United States. It is governed by the Kansas Board of Regents. The university offers more than 60 undergraduate degree programs in more than 200 areas of study in ...

Awards

* 1992

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

Fellowship * 1993

Whiting Award The Whiting Award is an American award presented annually to ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, ...

in Fiction * 1994 Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Award from the

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, Music of the United States, music, and Visual art of the United States, art. Its fixed number ...

* 1996 National Book Award Finalist * 1998

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

in Fiction * 2008 Library of Virginia Literary Award for Fiction * 2008 WILLA Award for Contemporary Fiction from Women Writing the West

Bibliography

* * * *

Anthologies

* *

References

External links

Profile at The Whiting Foundation
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Peery, Janet 1948 births Living people 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American women novelists American women short story writers Wichita State University alumni Old Dominion University faculty Writers from Wichita, Kansas 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers 20th-century American short story writers 21st-century American short story writers Novelists from Virginia Novelists from Kansas American women academics