Nancy Au

Fiction Writer

Author's Bio

Nancy Au teaches at California State University Stanislaus (2015-current), and at San Francisco State University (2015-2016, 2019-2022), and was co-founder of The Escapery (https://theescapery.org) which was a collective of teachers dedicated to diversity, and to writing and art as a form of resistance. Her debut full-length collection, SPIDER LOVE SONG AND OTHER STORIES (Acre Books 2019) was a finalist for the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Award for debut short story collection, and the Community of Literary Magazine and Presses (CLMP) book award for fiction. Nancy's short stories, flash fiction, creative nonfiction, and essays often center on the experiences of the elderly, the young, Chinese immigrants, as well as with characters who struggle with mental health issues. She endeavors to write about (and to amplify, diversify, complicate) the voices that have been historically ignored within academia and literature. www.peascarrots.com

Education: 
San Francisco State University MFA

Publications & Prizes

Anthology:
Best Small Fictions (Braddock Avenue Books, 2018)
Book:
SPIDER LOVE SONG AND OTHER STORIES (Acre Books, 2019)
Journals:
Atticus Review
,
Beloit Fiction Journal
,
Catapult
,
Cincinnati Review
,
Craft
,
Entropy
,
Fiction Southeast
,
Foglifter
,
Forge Literary Magazine
,
Gulf Coast
,
Jellyfish Review
,
Journal of Compressed Creative Arts
,
Lunch Ticket
,
Michigan Quarterly Review
,
Necessary Fiction
,
Pinch
,
Pithead Chapel
,
Redivider
,
SmokeLong Quarterly
,
Tahoma Literary Review
Prizes won: 

2022 Wigleaf Top 50 longlist;  2020 Community of Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP) Firecracker Book Award for Fiction finalist; 2020 PEN America/Robert W. Bingham Award for Debut Short Story Collection longlisted; 2019 Wigleaf Top 50 longlisted; Redivider's 2018 Blurred Genre Contest winner; The Vestal Review's 2018 VERA Flash Fiction Prize winner;  The Best Small Fictions 2018 winner;  Entropy's Best of 2018 (fiction);  Spring Creek Project Collaborative Residency award;  2018 Best Microfiction nomination;  2018 Atticus Review Flash Fiction Contest finalist;  2018 Gigantic Sequins Flash Fiction Contest finalist;  2018 SmokeLong Quarterly Award for Flash Fiction longlisted;  2018 Reflex Fiction Quarterly International Flash Fiction Award finalist;  2017 The Best Small Fictions nomination;  2017 Wigleaf Top 50 longlisted;  Best of the Net nomination;  2016 The Best Small Fictions nomination, 2016 The Best Small Fictions nomination;  2016 Pushcart Prize nomination;  2016 Wigleaf Top 50 nomination;  2014 Michael Ruben Book Award runner-up;  2012 Glimmer Train's Very Short Fiction Award finalist

Personal Favorites

Favorite authors: 
• Yiyun Li • Elizabeth McCracken • Jesmyn Ward • Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie • Aimee Nezhukumatathil • Sequoia Nagamatsu • Leslie Jamison • Ocean Vuong • Jhumpa Lahiri • Amy Hempel • Miranda July
What I'm reading now: 
Fun Home by Alison Bechdel, Thunderstruck & Other Stories by Elizabeth McCracken, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong, The Fifth Woman by Nona Caspers (2019) , What It Means When A Man Falls From the Sky by Lesley Nneka Arimah (2018)

More Information

Identifies as: 
Chinese American
Prefers to work with: 
Any
Fluent in: 
English
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Last update: Jun 20, 2022