Stephen Pett
| Stephen Pett | |
|---|---|
| Born | Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S. |
| 🏫 Education | Colorado College (BA) Hollins College (MA) University of Utah (PhD) |
| 💼 Occupation | Novelist, poet, educator |
| 📆 Years active | 1986–present |
| Notable work | Siren (1990) |
Stephen Pett is an American novelist, poet, and educator. He is a co-founder and former coordinator of the MFA Program in Creative Writing and Environment at Iowa State University and founded the literary journal Flyway: Journal of Writing and Environment.
Early life and education
Pett was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. He attended Colorado College, Hollins College, and the University of Utah.
Early in his career, Pett was awarded a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. During the two-year fellowship in Ireland, he traveled with the Duffy Brothers Circus and lived within a horse-farming community in County Clare.
Career
Academic and community work
Pett served as the coordinator for the MFA Program in Creative Writing and Environment at Iowa State University. While on leave, he taught for two years at the Native American Preparatory School in Rowe, New Mexico.
For approximately twenty years, Pett has conducted creative writing workshops for incarcerated individuals at the Fort Dodge Correctional Facility in Iowa, the New Mexico State Prison, and the Santa Fe County Adult Correctional Facility.
Writing
Pett's debut novel, Siren, was published by Vintage Contemporaries in 1990. The novel was submitted for the Pulitzer Prize by the publisher and received reviews from The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and NPR's Alan Cheuse.[1][2]
His short fiction has appeared in journals including The Sun, Missouri Review, and Ecotone. His collection, This Impossible Vertical World, won the W.S. Porter Prize and is scheduled for publication in 2026.[3]
Awards and honors
- Thomas J. Watson Fellowship
- W.S. Porter Prize, for This Impossible Vertical World (Regal House Press)[3]
- First Place, Fiction Network Short Fiction Contest (1986)
- First Place, Iowa Arts Council Literary Award (1986)
Bibliography
- Siren (Novel), Vintage Contemporaries, 1990. ISBN 978-0394757124 Search this book on
. - Pulpit of Bones (Poetry), William Morrow, 1995. ISBN 978-0688142025 Search this book on .
- The Tales We Tell: Perspectives on the Short Story (Co-editor), Greenwood Press, 1998. ISBN 978-0313303968 Search this book on .
- This Impossible Vertical World (Short stories), Regal House Press, forthcoming 2026.
References
- ↑ Staff (November 1, 1990). "Siren: Stephen Pett, Author". Publishers Weekly.
- ↑ Staff (December 16, 1990). "Sin Under the Surface in a City of Saints". The Los Angeles Times.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "The W.S. Porter Prize Winners". Regal House Publishing.
Category:Living people
Category:American novelists
Category:American poets
Category:Iowa State University faculty
Category:Writers from Salt Lake City
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