Benjamin Percy is a contemporary American writer.

Biography

Percy was born on March 28, 1979 in Eugene, Oregon

Eugene, Oregon

Eugene is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and the seat of Lane County. It is located at the south end of the Willamette Valley, at the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast.As of the 2010 U.S...

, and in his early life lived briefly in Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

. His family moved to Tumalo, Oregon

Tumalo, Oregon

Tumalo is an unincorporated community in Deschutes County, Oregon, United States on U.S. Route 20 between Sisters and Bend. It is eight miles south of Eagle Crest Resort. In the Klamath language, tumolo means "wild plum," a plentiful shrub in south central Oregon. Tumola means "ground fog," which...

 when Percy was in the fourth grade and Percy attended a private school in Sunriver, Oregon

Sunriver, Oregon

Sunriver, Oregon is a private planned resort community in Deschutes County, Oregon, United States. It is part of the Bend, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area...

.

From an early age he demonstrated interest and aptitude in writing, but considered archeology a more practical career and spent several summers doing related work as an intern, then began study in that field at Brown University

Brown University

Brown University is a private, Ivy League university located in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. Founded in 1764 prior to American independence from the British Empire as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations early in the reign of King George III ,...

. Eventually finding archeology less satisfying than anticipated, and at the urging of his girlfriend (now wife) Lisa, Percy changed course and focused on writing as a career. Upon graduating from Brown, he attended Southern Illinois University

Southern Illinois University

Southern Illinois University is a state university system based in Carbondale, Illinois, in the Southern Illinois region of the state, with multiple campuses...

, earning his Master of Fine Arts

Master of Fine Arts

A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...

 in Creative Writing

Creative writing

Creative writing is considered to be any writing, fiction, poetry, or non-fiction, that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, and technical forms of literature. Works which fall into this category include novels, epics, short stories, and poems...

, with a teaching fellowship. Percy thereafter wrote short stories prolifically and his submissions to literary journals and magazines were soon accepted for publication.

In addition to writing for publication, Percy teaches writing. After teaching at the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point

University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point

The University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point is a public university located in Stevens Point, Wisconsin...

 and Marquette University

Marquette University

Marquette University is a private, coeducational, Jesuit, Roman Catholic university located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1881, the school is one of 28 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities...

 in Wisconsin, Percy joined the faculty at Iowa State University

Iowa State University

Iowa State University of Science and Technology, more commonly known as Iowa State University , is a public land-grant and space-grant research university located in Ames, Iowa, United States. Iowa State has produced astronauts, scientists, and Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winners, along with a host of...

 in fall 2008, He has also taught at multiple conventions and residencies, youth and adult alike. In 2010, Benjamin Percy was the guest judge for the Flatmancrooked Fiction Prize. Percy and his wife Lisa had a son, Connor, in 2006.

Fiction

Percy's fiction has been published in numerous literary journals and magazines. His first collection of stories, The Language of Elk, was published by the Carnegie Mellon University Press

Carnegie Mellon University Press

Carnegie Mellon University Press is a publisher that is part of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.It is headquartered within the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences in Baker Hall and specializes in poetry. Gerald Costanzo is the founder and...

 in 2006. His short story, Refresh, Refresh

Refresh, Refresh

"Refresh, Refresh" is a short story written by American author Benjamin Percy. The story concerns the effects of the war in Iraq on two boys in a small town in Oregon where a Marine reserve battalion is based. Many of the men in the town, including their fathers, are fighting in Iraq during the...

 first appeared in The Paris Review and won the Pushcart Prize

Pushcart Prize

The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are invited to nominate up to 6 works they have featured....

 for 2006. It was also included in Best American Short Stories

Best American Short Stories

The Best American Short Stories yearly anthology is a part of The Best American Series published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Since 1915, the BASS anthology has striven to contain the best short stories by some of the best-known writers in contemporary American literature.-Edward O'Brien:The...

 2006. At a reading of this story at Symphony Space

Symphony Space

Symphony Space is a multi-disciplinary performing arts organization at 2537 Broadway on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Performances take place in the 760-seat Peter Jay Sharp Theatre or the 160-seat Leonard Nimoy Thalia theater. Programs include music, dance, theater, film, and literary readings...

 for the NPR radio program Selected Shorts

Selected Shorts

Selected Shorts is an event at New York’s Symphony Space on the Upper West Side, in which actors read classic and new short fiction before a live audience. The annual season of the live events at Symphony Space begins in the mid-fall and ends in mid-spring, and a typical episode would include...

, the editor for the 2006 'Best American collection, Ann Patchett

Ann Patchett

Ann Patchett is an American author. She received the Orange Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award in 2002 for her novel Bel Canto. Patchett's other novels include Run, The Patron Saint of Liars, Taft, and The Magician's Assistant, which was shortlisted for the Orange Prize...

, indicated that she considered the story to be the best in the collection.

Percy's fiction draws its inspiration primarily from the High Desert

High Desert (Oregon)

The Oregon High Desert is a region of the U.S. state of Oregon, located east of the Cascade Range and south of the Blue Mountains, in the central and eastern parts of the state. Divided into a southern region and a northern region, the desert covers most of five Oregon counties and averages above...

 region of Central Oregon

Central Oregon

Central Oregon is a geographic region in the U.S. state of Oregon and is traditionally considered to be made up of Deschutes, Jefferson, and Crook counties. Other definitions include larger areas, often encompassing areas to the north towards the Columbia River, eastward towards Burns, or south...

 from which he hails. Percy says, "I think I'm writing about it with a mythic voice. My stories are about bigfoot

Bigfoot

Bigfoot, also known as sasquatch, is an ape-like cryptid that purportedly inhabits forests, mainly in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. Bigfoot is usually described as a large, hairy, bipedal humanoid...

 and bearded ladies, horse ranches, marijuana colonies and elk-hunting resorts. And I'm writing about all these things with a salty, mystical voice (that) I hope partners the material and the landscape."

In 2007, Percy was awarded the annual Plimpton Prize

Plimpton Prize

The Plimpton Prize is an annual award of $10,000 given by The Paris Review to a previously unpublished or emerging author who has written a work of fiction that was recently published in its publication....

 by The Paris Review, granted to an emerging author who has written for that publication.

Author Anthony Doerr

Anthony Doerr

Anthony Doerr is an American fiction writer. Raised in nearby Novelty, Ohio, he majored in history at Bowdoin College and earned an MFA from Bowling Green State University....

 writes that Percy's "stories crackle with energy and violence and a furious beauty."

In 2008, Percy was one of the winners of the Whiting Writers' Award

Whiting Writers' Award

The Whiting Writers' Award is an American award presented annually to ten emerging writers in fiction, nonfiction, poetry and plays. The award is sponsored by the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation and has been presented since 1985. As of 2007, winners receive US $50,000.-External links:**...

, given annually by The Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation. The prize awards $50,000 for poets, fiction and nonfiction writers, and playwrights "of exceptional talent and promise in early career." The foundation, which supports the humanities and writing, was established in 1963 by Flora E. Whiting, and its writing prize was first awarded in 1985.

Reviews

In addition to his fiction writing, Percy writes book reviews for The Capital Times.

External links

• Author Website
• Fogged Clarity's Interview with Benjamin Percy.
• Dial Tone, short story by Benjamin Percy from The Missouri Review