Debra Monroe

Monroe's work has been well received and widely published, appearing in many journals including the New England Review, the Southern Review, Doubletake, Hobart, the Florida Review, the Cimarron Review, Guernica, The American Scholar, Prairie Schooner, and Callaloo, as well as in mainstream publications, including Longreads, Salon, Texas Monthly, and the New York Times. Reviews of her books have been generally positive. Jonis Agee has said that Monroe's "prose shimmers like a jazz solo, full of sass and danger." Antonya Nelson writes that Monroe's "characters, like her prose, have hard edges. They also have big hearts, dark humor, and purely unique ways of opening themselves up for our inspection." Phillip Lopate writes that Monroe's storytelling has "consummate control and aphoristic wit." Her books have been included in Elle's top ten list, in Vanity Fair's hot picks, and were chosen as recommended reading by O, Oprah Winfrey's magazine. Monroe has garnered praise from several other publications including the Houston Chronicle, Salon, People Magazine, the Chicago Tribune, the Dallas Morning News, The Boston Globe, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post and others. Her essays have been cited in Houghton Mifflin's anthology The Best American Essays in 2012, 2013, and 2015.

• 1990 Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction • Two National Book Award nominations • John Gardner Fellowship