Melanie Sumner (born December 30, 1963) is an American writer and college professor. She was acclaimed as one of "America's Best Young Novelists" in 1995. Writer

Jill McCorkle Jill Collins McCorkle (born July 7, 1958) is an American short story writer and novelist. McCorkle was born in Lumberton, North Carolina. She graduated from University of North Carolina, in 1980, where she studied with Max Steele, Lee Smith, ...

says, "She comes to her characters with this wealth of knowledge. She's so well-versed in those wonderful little details that make up Southern towns. She has such a rich expanse of her fictional turf wildly varied and yet always occupied with this kind of social manners and morals and taboos.""Profile: Writer Melanie Sumner." ''Morning Edition'', 30 Aug. 2001. ''Gale Academic OneFile'', Accessed 19 May 2022. Sumner is an associate professor of English at

Kennesaw State University Kennesaw State University (KSU) is a public research university in the U.S. state of Georgia with two campuses in the Atlanta metropolitan area, one in the Kennesaw area and the other in Marietta on a combined of land. The school was founded ...

Early life

Sumner was born in

Middletown, Ohio Middletown is a city in Butler County, Ohio, Butler and Warren County, Ohio, Warren counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 50,987 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is part of the Cincinnati metropolitan area in sou ...

. When she was seven years old, her family moved to

Rome, Georgia Rome is the largest city in and the county seat of Floyd County, Georgia, United States. Located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, it is the principal city of the Rome, Georgia metropolitan area, Rome, Georgia, metropolitan statist ...

where she grew up. She graduated from

Darlington School Darlington School is a private, coeducational, college-preparatory day and boarding school in Rome, Georgia. It was founded in 1905. It serves students from pre-kindergarten to grade 12, and is divided into a Pre-K to 8 division and an Upper Sc ...

in 1982. She received a BA in religious studies at the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the Public university, public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referre ...

in 1986. There, she was a member of the literary fraternity St. Anthony Hall. She received an MFA in creative writing at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

in 1987.

Career

From 1988 to 1990, Sumner taught English in

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

with the

Peace Corps The Peace Corps is an Independent agency of the U.S. government, independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to communities in partner countries around the world. It was established in Marc ...

. She has taught at various colleges, including

Cape Fear Community College Cape Fear Community College (CFCC) is a Public college, public community college in Wilmington, North Carolina. It enrolls nearly 23,000 students each year. The service area of Cape Fear Community College includes New Hanover County, North Caroli ...

(1990–1993), the

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...

(1995–1996), the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; ) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1889 by the New Mexico Territorial Legislature, it is the state's second oldest university, a flagship university in th ...

(1998–2001), and Shorter College (2002–2008). Currently, she is an associate professor of English at

. While at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1995 and 1996, she was a writer in residence. She has published many short stories and several novels. Her short stories have appeared in ''

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

'', ''

Harper's Magazine ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the United States. ''Harper's Magazine'' has ...

,'' ''

Ladies Home Journal ''Ladies' Home Journal'' was an American magazine that ran until 2016 and was last published by the Meredith Corporation. It was first published on February 16, 1883, and eventually became one of the leading women's magazines of the 20th century ...

'', ''

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 ...

'', ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', and ''

StoryQuarterly ''StoryQuarterly'' is an American literary journal based at Rutgers University–Camden in Camden, New Jersey. It was founded in 1975 by Tom Bracken, F.R. Katz, Pamela Painter and Thalia Selz. Works originally published in ''StoryQuarterly'' ha ...

.'' In 1994, her short story "My Other Life" was selected for inclusion in the anthology '' New Stories from the South: The Year's Best 1994,'' published by Algonquin Books. Published in 1995 by Houghton Mifflin, her first book was ''Polite Society'', a novel told through a series of short stories is about a young woman from

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

who serves as a

volunteer in

. In her second novel, ''The School of Beauty and Charm'', Sumner portrays an adolescent girl raised in an affluent, Christian-oriented Southern family who struggles under the pressure from her parents to become a “proper young lady," getting involved in alcohol and drugs. It was published in 2002 of Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, now

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

. Her third novel, ''The Ghost of Milagro Creek'', was published in July 2010 by Algonquin. The ghost of a medicine woman called Abuela narrates this story of star–crossed lovers set in a mixed community of Native Americans, Hispanics, and whites of

Taos, New Mexico Taos () is a town in Taos County, New Mexico, Taos County, in the north-central region of New Mexico in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Initially founded in 1615, it was intermittently occupied until its formal establishment in 1795 by Santa Fe ...

. Her fourth novel, ''How To Write a Novel'' was published in August 2015 by Vintage, a Random House imprint. Its plot pulls from aspects of Sumner's own life, telling the story of a 12-year-old girl who moves to a small town in Georgia after her father dies with her mother who is an English professor.

Awards

* ''Polite Society'' was included in the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

Peace Corps Collection in 2011 * She received a

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 ...

Literary Fellowship for prose in 2010. * In 1995, she received the

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, ...

for fiction for ''Polite Society''. * She received the Maria Thomas Award for ''Polite Society,'' selected as the best book by a returned Peace Corps volunteer. * She was awarded a fellowship/residency to The

Fine Arts Work Center The Fine Arts Work Center is a non-profit enterprise that supports emerging visual artists and writers in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The Work Center was founded in 1968 by a group of American artists and writers to support promising individual ...

* She received a fellowship/Residency to

Yaddo Yaddo is an artists' community located on a estate in Saratoga Springs, New York. Its mission is "to nurture the creative process by providing an opportunity for artists to work without interruption in a supportive environment.". On March ...

. * In 2001, the Rome Area Arts Council in Georgia selected Sumner as the Artist of the Year. * ''The Ghost of Milagro Creek'' was selected ''as'' New Mexico's Best Novel

Publications

Books

Short stories

Novels

* * *

Anthologies

* "The Monster," ''Voices of the Xiled: A Generation Speaks for Itself. Doubleday,'' 1994. * "My Other Life." New Stories from the South: The Year's Best 1994. Algonquin Books, 1994. * "My Other Life." ''Best of the South: From Ten Years of New Stories from the South'' (1997) Algonquin Books. * ''"''The Guide." ''Living on the Edge: Fiction by Peace Corps Writers'' (1999) Curbstone Press. * "Marriage." ''Long Story Short: Flash Fiction from 64 of North Carolina's Finest Writers'' (2009) University of North Carolina Press. * "Good-Hearted Woman." ''New Stories from the South: The Year's Best 2000'' (2000) Algonquin Books, p. 37. * "The Guide." ''After O'Connor: Stories from Contemporary Georgia'' (2003) University of Georgia * "Marriage." ''Convergences: Message, Method, Medium''. 2nd edition (2004). Bedford / St. Martins. * "The Monster." ''The Best of Boulevard Fiction. Volume 1'' (2015) Opojaz, Inc.

As editor

* ''The Treasure in the Heart: Stories and Yoga for Peaceful Children''. with Sydney Soils. (2007) Mythic Yoga Studio.

Journals.

* "Yesterday." ''

'' (1987) * "The Night Watchman." ''The Kennesaw Review'' (1988) * "Naar," ''Story'' (1991) *
Monster
''Boulevard'' (1992) * "My Other Life." ''StoryQuarterly'' (1993) *
The Edge of the Sky
" ''

,'' (February 1, 1993) p. 74. *
The Guide
" ''The New Yorker'' (April 26, 1993) p. 84. * "The Bad Connection." ''Seventeen'' (1994) * "Up in Smoke." ''Conde Nast Sports for Women'' (1998) * "The School of Beauty and Charm." ''Story'' (1998) * "Good Hearted Woman." ''Doublelake'' (1999) * "Out of Alaska." ''

'' (1999) * "Slipping Away." ''

'' (2002) *
Marriage
" ''

'' (2003) * "The Willing Suspension of Disbelief." ''

'' (2004) * "Killing the Cat." ''Tri-Quarterly'' (2004) * "Old Money, New Money, and No Money," ''

'' (2006) * "Wildwood," ''

'' (2007) * "Emergence." ''Five Points Magazine'' (2008)

Personal life

Sumner spent some twenty years as "a Southern expatriate downplaying her accent and poking fun at her roots." She has lived in

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

, and

Provincetown Provincetown () is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States census, Pr ...

. Around 2001, she moved back to

due to an illness in her family. Her husband David died from

Lou Gehrig's Disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or—in the United States—Lou Gehrig's disease (LGD), is a rare, terminal neurodegenerative disorder that results in the progressive loss of both upper and lo ...

in 2002. She has two children, Zoë and Rider.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sumner, Melanie 1963 births Living people 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists American women novelists Boston University College of Fine Arts alumni Kennesaw State University faculty People from Middletown, Ohio University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni Novelists from Ohio 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers Darlington School alumni American women academics