Heading to Chicago this week for The Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference.  Gonna meet up with some friends, do some writing, eat some Chicago style pizza and hopefully do a few open mics.  I’m excited to hear from Jennifer Egan, Audrey Niffenegger, Mark Doty, Margaret Atwood and loads of other, but mostly I’m looking forward to being around writers again. 

Heading to Chicago this week for The Association of Writers & Writing Programs Conference.  Gonna meet up with some friends, do some writing, eat some Chicago style pizza and hopefully do a few open mics.  I’m excited to hear from Jennifer Egan, Audrey Niffenegger, Mark Doty, Margaret Atwood and loads of other, but mostly I’m looking forward to being around writers again. 

27 February 2012 · Comments

My story “The Ghost of Takahiro Okyo,” runner-up in the 2011 Howard Frank Mosher Short Fiction Prize, is up online on Hunger Mountain magazine’s website.  It also features an interview with me about my writing life.  Check it out. 

My story “The Ghost of Takahiro Okyo,” runner-up in the 2011 Howard Frank Mosher Short Fiction Prize, is up online on Hunger Mountain magazine’s website.  It also features an interview with me about my writing life.  Check it out. 

15 February 2012 · Comments

Heading up to Vermont College of Fine Arts for another residency. 

Heading up to Vermont College of Fine Arts for another residency. 

27 December 2011 · Comments

2011 Bibliography

So, I just finished the second semester of my MFA in Writing at VCFA.  I’m at the halfway point.  I had to submit a bibliography…

January - July

DeLillo, Don.  White Noise.  New York: Penguin, 1986. Print

Egan, Jennifer.  A Visit From the Goon Squad. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2010. Print

Franzen, Jonathan.  The Corrections. New York: Picador, 2002. Print

Le, Nam.  The Boat.  New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2008. Print

Lopez, Barry.  Resistance.  New York: Vintage Books, 2004. Print

Muñoz, Manuel.  Zigzagger.  Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 2003. Print

Shivani, Anis.  Anatolia and Other Stories.  New York: Black Lawrence Press, 2009. Print

Smith, Patti.  Just Kids. New York: Ecco, 2010. Print

Treisman, Deborah., ed.  20 Under 40: Stories From The New Yorker. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010. Print.

July - December

Bolaño, Roberto.  The Savage Detectives. New York: Picador, 2008. Print.

Coetzee, J.M., Disgrace. New York: Penguin, 2000. Print.

Hempel, Amy. “Going.” Reasons to Live: Stories. New York: Knopf, 1985. Print.

Joyce, James.  The Dubliners. New York: Dover Publications, 1991. Print.

Keret, Etgar.  Girl on the Fridge.  New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008. Print

Marechera, Dambudzo. “Protista.” African Short Stories.  Ed. Chinua Achebe and Catherine Lynette. Innes.  London: Heinemann, 1985. Print.

McCann, Richard.  Mother of Sorrows. New York: Vintage, 2006. Print.

Moore, Lorrie. Birds of America: Stories. New York: A. Knopf, 1998. Print.

Ngugi wa Thiong’o, “Minutes of Glory.” African Short Stories.  Ed. Chinua Achebe and Catherine Lynette Innes.  London: Heinemann, 1985. Print.

Perec, Georges. Life: A User Manual. New Hampshire: David R Godine, 1978. Print.

Queneau, Raymond.  Exercises in Style. New York: New Directions, 1981. Print.

Silber, Joan. The Art of Time in Fiction: as Long as It Takes. Saint Paul, MN: Graywolf, 2009. Print.

Strunk, William.  The Elements of Style. Australia: KT Publishing, 2004. Print.

Vollmann, William T. The Rainbow Stories. New York: Penguin, 1992. Print.

This does not include some of the books I read for fun, like, Mark Dunn’s IBid, or SCUD: The Disposable Assassin. I’m reading more than I ever have and if all I do is get to enjoy more fiction and write literary criticisms I can say that this degree is well worth it. My wife says I’m the happiest I’ve ever been, I’m inclined to agree.  BETTER READ = BETTER LIFE.

21 November 2011 · Comments

About Me

My name is Donald Quist. I'm trying to become a better writer and human being. I work as a Public Information Officer in Hartsville and I own a restaurant called Bow Thai Kitchen. About my work: I look for hope in the hopelessness. I have a predilection for expletives, moral dilemmas, ellipses, obscure pop-culture references and parenthetical statements. My collection of short stories is now available online and in a few independent bookstores. You can buy it on Amazon or by clicking that yellow button below.

Stuff I Like

See more stuff I like