Matthew Salesses is a Korean American

fiction writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short stori ...

and

essayist An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

and Associate Professor of Creative Writing in the MFA program at Virginia Tech.

Life

Salesses was born in South Korea and adopted by white American parents at age 2. He grew up in Storrs, Conn. and attended the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where he studied English and creative writing. After college he taught English abroad, first in Prague and then in South Korea. He earned a Ph.D. in Literature and Creative Writing from the

University of Houston The University of Houston (; ) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas, United States. It was established in 1927 as Houston Junior College, a coeducational institution and one of multiple junior colleges formed in ...

and an M.F.A. in Fiction from

Emerson College Emerson College is a private college in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It also maintains campuses in Los Angeles and Well, Limburg, Netherlands (Kasteel Well). Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of Public Speaking, o ...

. Salesses is currently an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Virginia Tech.

Work

Salesses is the author of the novel ''The Hundred-Year Flood'' (Little A, 2015). He is also the author of ''Disappear Doppelgänger Disappear: A Novel'' (

Little A Little is a synonym for small size and may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little'' (album), 1990 debut album of Vic Chesnutt * ''Little'' (film), 2019 American comedy film *The Littles, a series of children's novels by American author John P ...

, 2020); ''Craft in the Real World'' (Catapult Books, 2021), an examination of American writing workshops and the incorporation of Asian storytelling traditions and

methodology In its most common sense, methodology is the study of research methods. However, the term can also refer to the methods themselves or to the philosophical discussion of associated background assumptions. A method is a structured procedure for bri ...

to broaden them; ''I'm Not Saying, I'm Just Saying'' (Civil Coping Mechanisms); ''Different Racisms: On Stereotypes, the Individual, and Asian American Masculinity'' (Thought Catalog Books); and ''The Last Repatriate'' (Nouvella). In 2015 ''

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'' named him one of 32 Essential Asian American Writers. His essays have been published in ''

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 ...

2020'',

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''Code Switch,'' ''

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'' Motherlode, ''

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 ap ...

,'' and ''

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''. He has received awards and fellowships from the

Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference The Middlebury Bread Loaf Writers' Conference is an author's conference held every summer at the Bread Loaf Inn, near Bread Loaf Mountain, east of Middlebury, Vermont. Founded in 1926, it has been called by ''The New Yorker'' "the oldest and most ...

and ''

Mid-American Review ''Mid-American Review'' (''MAR'') is an international literary journal dedicated to publishing contemporary fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and translations. Founded in 1981, ''MAR'' is a publication of the Department of English and the College of A ...

.'' For years, he wrote about fiction craft and pedagogy for the ''Pleiades'' blog, where he was the Website Editor. He has taught at

Tin House ''Tin House'' is an American literary magazine and book publisher based in Portland, Oregon, and New York City. History Portland publisher Win McCormack originally conceived the idea for a literary magazine called ''Tin House'' in the summer ...

and

Kundiman Kundiman is a genre of traditional Filipino ballads, predominantly with romantic themes. The lyrics of the kundiman are written in Tagalog. The melody is characterized by a smooth, flowing and gentle rhythm with dramatic intervals. Kundima ...

Controversy

In 2023, Salesses faced controversy after he compelled his

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

graduate students to sign a contract indicating they would fail his course if they, among other restrictions, failed to " me the race and gender of any character at first introduction," used "banned terms," or followed his accounts on social media. Commenting on the controversy, Molly Bradley of ''

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'' called these contractual provisions "the kind of thing a right-winger would invent as a hyperbolic parody of what progressive leftists want." In a subsequent statement to national media, Salesses expressed regret and rescinded "any kind of punishment" stated in the original contract.

Books

* ''The Last Repatriate'' (Nouvella, 2011) * ''I'm Not Saying, I'm Just Saying'' (Civil Coping Mechanisms, 2013) * ''The Hundred-Year Flood'', (

, 2015). * ''Different Racisms: On Stereotypes, the Individual, and Asian American Masculinity'' (Thought Catalog Books, 2017) * ''Disappear Doppelgänger Disappear: A Novel'' (

, 2020) * ''Craft in the Real World: Rethinking Fiction Writing and Workshopping'' (Catapult Books, 2021)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Salesses, Matthew American writers of Korean descent American fiction writers American essayists Writers of books about writing fiction Living people 21st-century American novelists Year of birth missing (living people)