Diane Simmons

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Diane Simmons, a native of the mountain West, is the author of numerous works of award-winning fiction ,

non-fiction, journalism and criticism. 

 

A former newspaper and magazine reporter in Idaho, Washington and Alaska,  she holds a BA in history, an MA in Creative Writing, and an Ph.D. in English literature. She is a Professor of English at City University of New York, and recently served as a Fulbright Teaching Fellow in the Czech Republic.

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At present most interested in: 

 

-essay in progress, "An Old Portrait in a Dark Closet," on discovering secrets of her family's history of slaveholding in South Georgia, 

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-short memoir, "The Big Time," up now on the lovely, online literary non-fiction magazine Hippocampus.

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- essay on Czech dissident Vaclav Havel – “Principles You’re Making a Killing on Them!”--runner-up travel-writing contest and published In NOWHERE magazine.  Nominated for a Pushcart Prize.  Translated into Czech and published in Czech literary Magazine, HOST.

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-essay on the legacy of communism in the Czech Republic:  "Nobody Goes to the Gulag Any More" -- 

published in Missouri Review - excerpted in LitHub.

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-novel-in-progress, based on a true story set in the Far West, 1930s, about three desperate young people who hope to get rich by emulating the Lindbergh kidnapping.

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-political and climate activism in Maplewood, NJ with Maplewood Dems, Activate America, and other progressive groups.  Most important work at this writing:  fighting attempts at voter suppression.   Also: the effort to stop new fossil fuel projects in the state.

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-Chair Non-Fiction Award Committee –  PEN American Center Prison Writing Committee

 

-hiking. . . as always.  

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