Alena Graedon, M.F.A.
- Associate Professor
- Graduate Faculty
- Interim Graduate Program Director for the M.F.A. in Creative Writing
Department: English
Office: The Great Hall Annex 403
Office Hours: (In person) Mondays, 12:00-1:00 p.m.; (Zoom) Tuesdays, 2:00-4:00 p.m. See syllabus for link.; and by appointment.
Phone: 732-923-4769
Email: agraedon@monmouth.edu
Alena Graedon’s first novel, The Word Exchange, was a New York Times Editors’ Choice and Paperback Row pick, and selected as a best novel of 2014 by Kirkus, Electric Literature, and Tor. It has been translated into eight languages. Graedon’s nonfiction has been published in The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times Book Review, newyorker.com, The Believer magazine, and Guernica, among other places, and her short fiction has appeared in VICE magazine. Graedon has twice received fellowships from MacDowell, as well as from The Corporation of Yaddo, The Ucross Foundation, The Jentel Artist Residency, The Lighthouse Works, VCCA, and The Vermont Studio Center.
Preferred Pronouns: she/her/hers
Education
M.F.A., Columbia University
B.A., Brown University
Books
The Word Exchange (Doubleday, 2014).
Forthcoming
She is currently at work on a second novel, provisionally titled Spitfire, and a collection of short stories, Survivalists.
Professional Associations
PEN America
Additional Information
Graedon’s nonfiction has been published in The Believer, Guernica, The New York Times Book Review, Postroad, and elsewhere.
Courses
Recently Taught Classes
2022 Fall
2022 Spring
2021 Fall
2021 Spring
- Advanced Creative Writing – EN 451
2020 Fall
- Craft Intensive Seminar in Creative Writing – EN 652
- Seminar in Creative Writing: Writer’s Craft – EN 615
2020 Spring
- Advanced Creative Writing – EN 451
- Creative Writing: Introduction – EN 251
- Manuscript Seminar – EN 644
- Seminar in Creative Writing: Fiction – EN 611
2019 Fall
2019 Spring
Frequently Taught Classes
- Advanced Creative Writing (EN 451)
- Creative Writing: Fiction (EN 252)
- Creative Writing: Introduction (EN 251)
- Fiction Workshop (EN 611)
- Literature II: Neoclassical to the Present (EN 202)
- Manuscript Seminar (EN 644)
- Seminar in Creative Writing: Fiction (EN 611)
- Seminar in Creative Writing: Writer’s Craft (EN 615)