Davis, Jennifer S. 1973–

PERSONAL: Born 1973, in AL. Education: University of Montana, B.A. (with high honors), 1996; University of Alabama, M.F.A., 2001.

ADDRESSES: Home—New Orleans, LA. Agent—c/o Jin Auh, The Wylie Agency, 250 W. 57th St., Ste. 2114, New York, NY 10107. E-mail—jsdblue@aol.com.

CAREER: Writer and freelance editor. Mack-Fil School, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, English instructor, 1997–98; University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, graduate teaching assistant, 1998–2001; University of Miami, Miami, FL, English instructor, 2001–02; Eastern Washington University, Cheney, assistant professor and editor of Willow Springs, a literary journal, 2002–04; University of California, Los Angeles, online English instructor, 2003–; University of Colorado, Denver, assistant professor of fiction, 2006–.

MEMBER: Associated Writing Programs; American Association of University Women; U.S. Authors' Guild.

AWARDS, HONORS: Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) Prague Summer Seminars fellow, 2001; Iowa Award for Short Fiction, for Her Kind of Want, 2002; Artist Trust/Washington State Arts Commission fellow, 2003–04; Djerassi Residency fellow, 2004; Reynolds Price Short Fiction Award, Salem College for Women, for "Blue Moon," 2004.

WRITINGS:

Her Kind of Want (collection of short stories), University of Iowa Press (Iowa City, IA), 2002.

Contributor of short stories to Grand Street, Paris Review, Epoch, Georgia Review, One Story, Oxford American, Fiction, Hoyden's Ferry Review, and Crab Orchard Review.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Our Former Lives in Art, a collection of short stories, and Confederados, a historical novel, both for Random House.

SIDELIGHTS: The Southern upbringing of Alabama native Jennifer S. Davis proved an important influence on her chosen career as a writer of short fiction: her first published collection of short stories, titled Her Kind of Want, follows the lives of a handful of Southern women struggling to cope with life's challenges. Already a prolific short story writer, Davis earned the 2002 Iowa Award for Short Fiction for Her Kind of Want and set to work on another collection to be published by Random House under the title Our Former Lives in Art. Also in progress is a historical novel about the "Confederados," Confederate soldiers and their families who left the South for Brazil after the Civil War.

A contributor to Publishers Weekly described Davis's writing in Her Kind of Want as "rich with intriguing musings and conceits," adding that the collection "demonstrates Davis's keen understanding of the sensibilities and longings of women whom life has cheated." In a review for Booklist, Joanne Wilkinson commented that "Davis' characters are riveting, her dialogue is colorful, her writing is exquisite." Wilkinson went on to call Her Kind of Want a "memorable debut." A Kirkus Reviews reviewer called Davis "talented and flexible."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, September 1, 2002, Joanne Wilkinson, review of Her Kind of Want, p. 55.

Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2002, review of Her Kind of Want, p. 1057.

Publishers Weekly, September 9, 2002, review of Her Kind of Want, p. 41.

ONLINE

Jennifer S. Davis Home Page, http://members.authorsguild.net/jsdavis (March 5, 2006).