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Susan Neville

スーザン・ネヴィル

Susan Neville

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1951-01-04 （Indianapolis, Indiana, United States）
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Indianapolis, Indiana, United States

Career

Occupations
writer, professor
Active Years
1973-
Affiliations
Butler University (faculty), Warren Wilson Program for Writers (faculty), St. Petersburg Junior College (teaching), Ball State University (teaching), Indiana University East (teaching)

Education

DePauw University
Degree: B.A.
Period: 1969–1973
Year of Graduation: 1973
Country: United States
Bowling Green State University
Degree: M.F.A.
Period: 1974–1976
Year of Graduation: 1976
Country: United States

Awards

National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship
1978
Organization: National Endowment for the Arts
Result: 受賞
National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship
1988
Organization: National Endowment for the Arts
Result: 受賞
Richard Sullivan Prize
1998
Work: In the House of Blue Lights
Organization: Unknown
Result: 受賞
Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction
1984
Work: The Invention of Flight
Organization: University of Georgia Press (Flannery O'Connor Award)
Result: 受賞
Catherine Doctorow Prize for Innovative Fiction
2019
Work: The Town of Whispering Dolls
Organization: Fiction Collective Two (FC2)
Result: 受賞
Indiana Authors Award (Fiction)
2022
Work: The Town of Whispering Dolls
Category: フィクション
Organization: Indiana Authors Awards
Result: 受賞
Indiana Authors Award (Lifetime Achievement)
2024
Category: 生涯業績
Organization: Indiana Authors Awards
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Invention of Flight

1984 short story collection

A collection of short stories exploring Indiana and the Midwest, focusing on regional life, memory, and the uncanny in everyday experience.

Midwestmemoryregionalism

In the House of Blue Lights

1998 short story collection

A collection of stories that sensitively depicts Indiana landscapes and characters, with themes of local history and individual solitude.

local historylonelinesslandscape depiction

The Town of Whispering Dolls

2020 fiction (innovative)

An experimentally structured novel/linked collection in which the town and its inhabitants' memories and stories intersect; notable for its departures from traditional narrative forms.

fragmented memorycommunitynarrative experimentation

Indiana Winter

1994 nonfiction

Essays about Indiana's winter landscapes and culture, probing the relationship between season and place.

seasonalitysense of placeculture

Bibliography

  • The Invention of Flight
  • In the House of Blue Lights
  • The Town of Whispering Dolls
  • Indiana Winter
  • Falling Toward Grace: Images of Religion and Culture
  • Twilight in Arcadia: Tobacco Farming in Indiana
  • Fabrication: Essays on Making Things and Making Meaning
  • Iconography: A Writer's Meditation
  • Sailing the Inland Sea
  • Butler's Big Dance: The Team, The Tournament, and Basketball Fever

Style & Themes

Literary Style
lyrical, observational prose that details Midwestern landscapessometimes employs fragmented and experimental narrative techniques
Recurring Motifs
Midwest/Indiana landscapesmemory and the pastreligious imagery

Legacy

Susan Neville is known for her work focused on Indiana and the Midwest, acclaimed both for regional literature and narrative experimentation. She has received multiple awards and contributed to mentoring writers through university teaching.

Trivia

  • Spouse: Ken Neville.
  • Graduated DePauw University (1973) and received an M.F.A. from Bowling Green State University (1976).
  • Received NEA Literature Fellowships in 1978 and 1988.
  • The Town of Whispering Dolls (2020) won the 2019 Catherine Doctorow Prize (FC2) and the 2022 Indiana Authors Award.