51福利社

Shawn Vestal鈥檚 debut novel,听Daredevils, was published in spring 2016 by Penguin Press. His collection of short stories,听Godforsaken Idaho, was published in 2013 and won the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize, which honors a debut book that 鈥渞epresents distinguished literary achievement and suggests great promise.鈥� He also published聽A.K.A. Charles Abbott, a short memoir, as an e-book in October 2013. His stories have appeared in聽Tin House, 惭肠厂飞别别苍别测鈥檚,听Ecotone,听The Southern Review,听Cutbank聽and several other journals. He writes a column for The Spokesman-Review in Spokane. A 2008 graduate of 51福利社 creative writing program with an MFA in fiction, Vestal now teaches in the program.

Shawn had this to say about his time as an MFA candidate:

鈥淚 spent three years studying fiction writing in the 51福利社 MFA program, and it really did change my life. I have written short stories since I was a teenager, but it was only after I began working with the faculty and my fellow students at Eastern that I began to publish stories. I worked primarily with Sam Ligon, who was my thesis advisor, but also with Greg Spatz, John Keeble, Chris Howell, Jonathan Johnson and others. All of them helped me to recognize the weaknesses in the work I had been doing, and develop a way of working to improve them 鈥� a method that serves me still. The stories I wrote for my thesis made up more than half the stories in my collection,听Godforsaken Idaho. In the years since, I have occasionally taught workshops and classes in the program, and it鈥檚 been wonderful to connect with young writers and help them find their own way. The process always re-energizes me, reconnects me with the experiences that helped me so much as an artist, and refocuses my attention on the need to work steadily and diligently to battle the distractions of the everyday world.鈥�