Curtis VanDonkelaar
Assistant Professor
Office: 243 Bessey Hall
Email: vandonkc@msu.edu
Twitter: @vandonc
Websites:
www.curtisvandonkelaar.com
http://offbeat.msu.edu/
Research Areas
Creative Writing, Editing and Publishing, Midwestern Culture and Literature
Profile
I teach writing and editing in WRAC, and I am currently the faculty editor/advisor for The Offbeat literary journal. I also do consultation work with Fourth Genre: Explorations in Nonfiction.
My work is primarily in fiction, though recently I am expanding into creative nonfiction. I am most recently the winner of the 2016 Literal Latte Short Short Contest and the Gateway Review’s 2016 Flash Fiction Contest, and I have been a finalist in a number of other fiction competitions, including the Puerto del Sol Fiction Contest, The Laurel Review’s Midwestern Fiction Contest, Harpur Palate’s John Gardner Fiction Contest, the Tusculum Review Fiction Contest, Pulp Literature’s Hummingbird Prize for Flash Fiction, and Passages North’s Neutrino Prize. My stories have appeared in the Vestal Review, Western Humanities Review, MAKE, Hobart, and DIAGRAM, among others, and have been positively reviewed by Dark Sky Magazine and The Review Review. I’ve twice made the Wigleaf longlist, and have been nominated for Best of the Net.
Education
PhD. English/Creative Writing-Fiction. Western Michigan University. 2010.
MFA. Fiction Writing. Western Michigan University. 2006.
Representative Work
Recent Publications
“Chameleons”
Literal Latte, forthcoming
Winner, 2016 Short Short Contest
“The Dream’s Alive”
The Gateway Review, forthcoming
Winner, Flash Fiction Contest
“Larry and Charlene in Three Acts”
Storm Cellar, Vol. V No. 2, Fall 2016
“The Old Moose Head and Beyond”
Toad Suck Review, Vol. 6, 2016
see curtisvandonkelaar.com for links to stories!
Selected Courses Taught
WRA 101: Writing as Inquiry
WRA 145: Men in America
WRA 150: The Evolution of American Thought
WRA 195H: Major Topics in American Thought (Honors)
WRA 380: Managing Publication Projects
WRA 480: Publication Production I
WRA 481: Publication Production II
Research or Academic Affiliations
Executive Board Member, Michigan College English Association