Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum
Shirley and Royal Durst Distinguished Chair in Literature
Assistant Professor of Creative Writing
School of Humanities

Office: Humanities bldg, Room 1006
Phone: (914) 251-5958
Fax: (914) 251-6559
Email: kirsten.lunstrum@purchase.edu
Website: www.kirstenlunstrum.net

Kirsten Sundberg Lunstrum is the author of two collections of short fiction.  This Life She’s Chosen, published by Chronicle Books in 2005, was selected as a Barnes and Noble Discover New Writers title.  Chronicle will publish Kirsten’s second collection, Swimming With Strangers, in the fall of 2008.  Kirsten’s short fiction has appeared in The American Scholar, One Story, and Willow Springs, among other journals, and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and selected for inclusion in the 2009 PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories anthology.  In 2005, she was a Walter E. Dakin Fellow at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference.  She is also co-editor of an anthology titled The Sincerest Form of Flattery: Contemporary Women Writers on Forerunners in Fiction (Lewis-Clark Press, 2008).  She joins the Purchase faculty in the fall of 2008.

Education
MA, University of California, Davis, 2003 (Fiction Writing)
BA, Pacific Lutheran University, 1999 (English and Writing)

Positions
Present: Assistant Professor of Creative Writing, Purchase College (SUNY).

2005-2008: Adjunct Professor of Literature and Writing, Saint Mary’s College, Notre Dame, IN.

2005-2007: Adjunct Professor of Literature and Writing, Indiana University, South Bend, IN.

2005: Visiting Writer, Eastern Washington University, Spokane, WA.

2003-2005: Instructor of English Literature and Writing, Community Colleges of Spokane, IEL, Pullman, WA.

2001-2003: Graduate Instructor of Fiction Writing, UC Davis, CA.

Areas of Expertise
Fiction writing, the short story, contemporary women writers, writing and the environment, literature of the American West.

Research Interests
The contemporary short story, representations of motherhood in fiction, literature of the American West, form and the novel.

Courses Taught
Introduction to Creative Writing, Introductory and Advanced Fiction Writing, Introduction to Creative Non-Fiction, Graduate Creative Non-Fiction Theory, 20th Century American Literature, Literature of Immigration, Girls and the Adolescent Experience in Literature, Beginning and Intermediate College Writing, Introduction to Literature, Writing for ESL Learners, Research Writing.

Honors and Awards
2008: “The Nursery” (short story) selected for inclusion in the 2009 PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories collection.

2005: This Life She’s Chosen selected as a Barnes and Noble Discover New Writers title.

2005: “The Drowning” (short story) nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

2005: Walter E. Dakin Fellowship to the Sewanee Writers’ Conference.

2002: Eshleman Scholarship to attend the Squaw Valley Writing Workshops.

Publications
Swimming With Strangers: Stories, Chronicle Books, 2008.

This Life She’s Chosen: Stories, Chronicle Books, 2005.

The Sincerest Form of Flattery: Contemporary Women Writers on Forerunners in Fiction (anthology, co-edited with Jacqueline Kolosov), Lewis-Clark Press, 2008.

“Familial Kindness,” One Story, April, 2008.

“The Nursery,” The American Scholar, autumn, 2007.

“The Drowning,” Willow Springs, May, 2005.

“The Magnificat,” CALYX Journal, summer, 2002.

Conferences/Residencies
Guest Reader, The Possession Sound Writers’ Conference, October, 2008.

Alumni Reader, Squaw Valley Community of Writers Workshops, summer, 2005.

Walter E. Dakin Fellow, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, summer, 2005.

Eshleman Scholar, Squaw Valley Community of Writers Workshops, summer, 2002.

Summer Residency, The Grunewald Guild, summer, 1998.