Vita
(Download a PDF version here.)
Dave Madden
1723 N. 26th Street
Lincoln, NE 68503
dave at davemadden dot org
Education
Ph.D. in English (Concentration in Creative Writing), University of Nebraska-Lincoln, expected May 2010
M.A. in English, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, May 2005
B.A. in Film Studies, University of Pittsburgh, December 1999, magna cum laude
Dissertation: If You Need Me I’ll Be Over There and Other Stories
The narrators of the 11 stories in my collection all use the first-person point of view as a means of character-building—both in terms of the literal roles as narrators, and also in a more therapeutic sense. Borrowing from the confessional and self-protective tropes of the memoir, these narrators speak in their own distinct voices in order to figure out what their lives mean. Jim, in “Go Pitt,” discusses his job as a chemist and his lifelong football fandom as a way to understand his HIV-positive status. The group of people who compositely narrate “Beekeeping” continually shift their focus among one another rather than place it on their friend’s leukemia. The unnamed narrator in the title story tries to figure out his place in the world, and in his family, over the weekend of his grandmother’s funeral. In each story, I exploit the small but vital distance, in the first-person point of view, between narrator and character to reveal to the reader the depths and contradictions of selfhood that first-person narrators usually try to hide.
Committee: Jonis Agee, Chair (Department of English, University of Nebraska-Lincoln); Guy Reynolds (Department of English, University of Nebraska-Lincoln); Judith Slater (Department of English, University of Nebraska-Lincoln); Barbara DiBernard (Department of English, University of Nebraska-Lincoln); John Janovy (Department of Biology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln)
Publications
books:
- The Authentic Animal: Inside the Odd and Obsessive World of Taxidermy. New York: St. Martin’s, forthcoming.
stories:
- “Pamela.” Indiana Review 30.2 (2008): 59-73.
- “Karl Friedrich Gauss.” Hobart 9 (2008): 114-119.
- “She Once Grew the Prize-Winning Cactus at the Nebraska State Fair.” Heartlands 5 (2007): 62-63.
- “The Single Father” (with Adam Peterson). Mid-American Review 27.2 (2007): 60-74.
- “Prime Time.” The Creator Studio 9 (2007): 46-51. (Translated in French and Spanish.)
- “An Uneven House.” Beloit Fiction Journal 18 (2005): 41-52.
- “What Do You See When You’re All Flesh and Failure?” Bedtime Stories for People in Trouble. Pittsburgh: The New Yinzer, 2002. 10.
- “In the Mind of Myron Cope.” Magazino 2 (2002): 34-37.
- “Three Short Pieces on the Sorrows of the Earthbound.” Yawp 4 (2002): 64-74.
essays:
- “Play Dead.” Tampa Review 37 (2009). (Forthcoming.)
- “Not Forgotten Evenings on Certain Faraway Balconies”. Pittsburgh Love Stories. Pittsburgh: The New Yinzer, 2004.
poems:
- “Another Poem about Flowers.” Third Coast (Spring 2008): 129.
journalism & reviews:
- Rev. of Reading Novalis in Montana by Melissa Kwasny. Octopus Magazine 12 (2009):<http://www.octopusmagazine.com/issue12/madden.htm>.
- Rev. of Sedaris by Kevin Kopelson. Prairie Schooner 82.4 (2008): 174-177.
- “Armed with Colors” (cover story). Pittsburgh Magazine Sept. 2003: 52-59.
- “In Perfect Union” (cover story). Pittsburgh Pulp 25 April 2002: 8-10.
- “Perchance to Dream” (cover story). In Pittsburgh Weekly 23 Feb. 2000: 12-19.
chapbooks:
- The Small City. Pittsburgh: Brett Yasko, 2003.
Awards & Nominations
Maude Hammond Fling Fellowship, 2008-2009
—one of only 6 recipients of this annual university-wide award of $20,000 for research and a one-year release from teaching
Tennessee Williams Scholarship, Summer 2008
—awarded on a competitive basis from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference
AWP Intro Journal Award (nonfiction), Spring 2008
—awarded by the Association of Writers & Writing Programs to three writers nationwide
Graduate Vreeland Award, Spring 2008
—awarded annually by the UNL English department to one graduate student for an outstanding portfolio of creative writing (composed of chapters from The Authentic Animal)
Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant Award, Winter 2008
—received Honorable Mention from UNL’s Office of Graduate Studies
Sherwood Anderson Award for Fiction, Winter 2007
—annual contest held by Mid-American Review, judged in 2007 by Aimee Bender
First Place, Prairie Schooner / Mari Sandoz Prize for Fiction, Spring 2005
—awarded annually by UNL English department for best short story written by a graduate student
University Fellowship, 2005-2006
—awarded by the UNL English department on a competitive basis to incoming PhD students
Certificate of Recognition for Contributions to Students, January 2005
—awarded to instructors university-wide by the UNL Parents Association
McPhee Fellowship, Summer 2004
—awarded by the UNL English department for personal summer research
Teaching & Professional Experience
Instructor, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2004 – present
Courses Taught:
ENGL 352: Advanced Fiction Writing (1 section)
ENGL 254: Writing & Communities: Literary Nonfiction (1 section)
ENGL 252: Writing of Fiction (3 sections)
ENGL 250: Introduction to Creative Writing: Poetry, Fiction, Nonfiction (1 section)
ENGL 205: Twentieth-Century Fiction (1 section)
ENGL 180: Introduction to Literature (1 section)
ENGL 151: Composition: Rhetoric as Argument (2 sections)
ENGL 150: Composition: Writing Rhetoric (4 sections)
ENGL 101: Composition: Writing from Literature (1 section)
Teaching Assistant, UNL, Fall 2009
Course Assisted: ENGL 212: Introduction to Gay and Lesbian Literature (1 section)
Instructor, UNL’s NUStart Program, Summer 2005, Summer 2006
Course Taught: ENGL 180: Introduction to Literature (2 sections)
Research Assistant – UNL, 2003-2004
transcribed and coded manuscripts using XML markup for the Willa Cather Project;
processed and read incoming submissions for Prairie Schooner and corrected page
proofs
Conferences & Readings
Omaha Lit Fest, September 2008
—moderated panel on book covers and book design
Scholars Reading – Sewanee Writers’ Conference, July 2008
—read from the introduction to The Authentic Animal
Nebraska Summer Writers’ Conference, June 2008
—moderated a panel on writing from the self
Teaching & Research Panel on Gender & Sexuality in English Studies, October 2007
—graduate student panelist, part of UNL English department’s brown-bag luncheon series
Nebraska Summer Writers’ Conference, June 2007
—participated in a panel on collaborative writing
English Department Pedagogy Conference, Fall 2004
—presented paper on incorporating popular culture projects in a composition course
Associated Writing Programs Pedagogy Panel, Spring 2004
—presented paper, “Using Silent Comics to Teach Voice”
No Name Reading Series – Lincoln, Neb., 2004-2009
Pros Only Reading Series – Pittsburgh, Pa., December 2003
Academic & Department Service
Graduate Appointee, English Department’s Chair’s Advisory Committee, 2008-2009
Vice President, English Graduate Student Association, 2008-2009
Executive Board Member, English Graduate Student Association, 2007-2008
Assistant Director, Nebraska Summer Writers’ Conference, 2005-2007
High School Workshop Coordinator, Nebraska Summer Writers’ Conference, 2004-2005
Founder/Organizer, UNL Fiction Colloquium, 2004-2006
Editorial Assistant, Prairie Schooner, 2003-2007
Committee Member, No Name Reading Series, 2003-2007
Other Professional Activities
Co-Editor, The Cupboard, 2006-present
Senior Fiction Reader, Prairie Schooner, 2007-2009
Book Prize Screener in Fiction, Prairie Schooner, 2006-present
Founding Editor, The New Yinzer, 2001-2003