Thisbe Nissen is an American

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

. Originally from

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, she lived in

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

for eleven years. Among her works are ''Osprey Island'', ''The Good People of New York'', and ''Out of the Girls' Room and into the Night''. She has taught a fiction course at least once a year since the inception of the Iowa Young Writers' Workshop, a two-week intensive creative writing workshop "camp" for talented high school students, except in 2006. She has also taught at the

Iowa Writers' Workshop The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a graduate-level creative writing program. At 89 years, it is the oldest writing program offering a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in the United States. Its acceptance rate is between 2 ...

, Iowa Elderhostel.

Early life and education

Nissen is a graduate of

Hunter College High School Hunter College High School is a public academic magnet secondary school located in the Carnegie Hill section of the Upper East Side of Manhattan. It is administered and funded by Hunter College of the City University of New York (CUNY) and no t ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the boroughs of New York City, borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded approximately by 96th Street (Manhattan), 96th Street to the north, the East River to the e ...

. She attended

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1833, it is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational lib ...

, and received her

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...

in Fiction from the

at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

, where she was a

James Michener James Albert Michener ( or ; February 3, 1907 – October 16, 1997) was an American writer. He wrote more than 40 books, most of which were long, fictional family sagas covering the lives of many generations, set in particular geographic locales ...

Fellow.

Career

In 2007, she taught at the 3rd Annual Writers in Paradise at

Eckerd College Eckerd College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. Founded in 1958, part of the campus is waterfront (area), waterfront and beach on Boca Ciega ...

. In the spring of 2007, she was back in New York to teach at Columbia. After finishing a story collection called ''How Other People Make Love'', Nissen is at work on a novel, and on several collaged picture books for children. From the fall of 2007 to the spring of 2009, she taught fiction workshops at

Brandeis University Brandeis University () is a Private university, private research university in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It is located within the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1948 as a nonsectarian, non-sectarian, coeducational university, Bra ...

in Waltham, Massachusetts. In 2010, she began a tenure-line appointment in the English Department at

Western Michigan University Western Michigan University (Western Michigan, Western or WMU) is a Public university, public research university in Kalamazoo, Michigan, United States. It was initially established as Western State Normal School in 1903 by Governor Aaron T. B ...

, where she joined

Jaimy Gordon Jaimy Gordon (born July 4, 1944) is an American writer. She is a winner of the National Book Award for Fiction. Biography She was born in Baltimore. She graduated from Antioch College in 1966, received an MA in English from Brown University in 1 ...

, William Olsen,

Nancy Eimers Nancy Eimers (born 1954 Chicago) is an American poet. Life She graduated from Indiana University with an M.A., from the University of Arizona with an M.F.A., and from the University of Houston with a Ph.D. She teaches at Western Michigan Universi ...

, Steve Feffer, and Richard Katrovas in the Creative Writing Program. She's married to writer

Jay Baron Nicorvo Jay Baron Nicorvo (born August 21, 1976) is an American novelist, poet, and essayist. Life Nicorvo was born in Perth Amboy, NJ and was raised in Sarasota, FL. He's married to the writer Thisbe Nissen and they live on an old farm outside Battl ...

Works

Nissen's work has been published in ''

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 ...

'', ''

Story Story or stories may refer to: Common uses * Narrative, an account of imaginary or real people and events ** Short story, a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting ** News story, an event or topic reported by a news orga ...

'', '' Story Quarterly'', '' The Virginia Quarterly'', '' Seventeen'', ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** '' Vogue Adria'', a fashion magazine for former Yugoslav countries ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ' ...

'', and '' Glamour.'' She is the author of the following books: *''Out of the Girls' Room and Into the Night'': a collection of short stories and winner of the 1999 John Simmons Short Fiction Award. Dealing with many familiar issues in an unfamiliar way, Ms. Nissen tackles young women (and men) dealing with eating disorders, death, infidelity, and love. *''The Good People of New York'': Nissen's first published novel (2001) is about the relationship between mother, Roz, and daughter, Miranda, as they travel through the hardships that life swings at them. Roz, a loud, confident Jewish woman living in New York, meets Edwin, a calm, quiet Nebraskan man at a party thrown by their mutual friend. From there on, they fall in love, get married, have a child, and have marital troubles. *''Osprey Island'': this novel describes the weblike interrelations of an entire community, from the alcoholic Lance Squire, whose wife dies after falling asleep with a lit cigarette, to a romance between the resort owner's daughter Suzy Chizek and maintenance worker Roddy Jacobs. *''The Ex-Boyfriend Cookbook: They Came, They Cooked, They Left (But We Ended Up With Some Great Recipes)'', is a

cookbook A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes. Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food. Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (food), course (appetize ...

co-written with author Erin Ergenbright.

References

External links

Official author websiteA 2004 interview with NissenA 2001 interviewNissen's Virtual NotebooksDon't Sweat the Petty
– on-line story, published January 2007 {{DEFAULTSORT:Nissen, Thisbe Hunter College High School alumni American women writers Living people Oberlin College alumni Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni Iowa Writers' Workshop faculty Brandeis University faculty Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people)