Valerie Miner
Encyclopedia
Valerie Miner is an American novelist, journalist
, and professor
.
Valerie Miner's work has appeared in The Georgia Review, Salmagundi, New Letters, Ploughshares, The Village Voice, Prairie Schooner, The Gettysburg Review, Conditions, The T.L.S., The Women's Review of Books, The Nation and other journals. Her stories and essays are published in more than sixty anthologies. Her collaborative work includes books, museum exhibits as well as theatre.
She has won fellowships and awards from The Rockefeller Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, The NEA, The Jerome Foundation, The Heinz Foundation, The Australia Council Literary Arts Board and numerous other sources. She has had Fulbright Fellowships to Tunisia and India. She has taught for over twenty-five years and won a Distinguished Teaching Award in 1999 from the University of Minnesota. She travels internationally giving readings, lectures and workshops.
Valerie Miner is now an artist-in-residence at the Clayman Institute for Gender Research, and a professor at Stanford University, contributing to the Feminist Studies Program and English Department.
In a review of After Eden in The Noe Valley Voice, Critic Olivia Boler writes: “Published in April by the University of Oklahoma Press, it is the story of Emily Adams, a city planner from Chicago who finds herself staying on at her summer cabin in coastal California after she learns of the sudden death of her long-term partner, Salerno. “One of the novel’s themes is the contemplation of the search for home and how one person’s claim on it can cause another person to feel invaded,” says Miner. The story also deals with the clash between loggers and environmentalists, and with native Californians and the migrant workers who work the lush agricultural land of MacKenzie Valley (read Mendocino).”
A review of After Eden in Books to Watch Out For praises the novel as “a sometimes heartbreaking, but ultimately rejuvenative story of a woman’s journey through grief and rebirth, populated with an eclectic family of choice and a supportive brother who goes through his own changes, too.”
In a review of After Eden in The Hollins Critic, Kyle Deacon comments that “…Miner raises the bar by framing Emily's course of self-repair with stunning lyrical prose and striking literary reinterpretations. The novel draws some of its inspiration from Milton's Paradise Lost, and Miner's modern revision provides a graceful correlation to the classic while adding depth to Emily's story.”
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, and professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
.
Biography
Valerie Miner is the award-winning author of thirteen books. Her novels include After Eden, Range of Light, A Walking Fire, Winter's Edge, Blood Sisters, All Good Women, Movement: A Novel in Stories, and Murder in the English Department. Her short fiction books include Abundant Light, The Night Singers and Trespassing. Her collection of essays is Rumors from the Cauldron: Selected Essays, Reviews and Reportage.Valerie Miner's work has appeared in The Georgia Review, Salmagundi, New Letters, Ploughshares, The Village Voice, Prairie Schooner, The Gettysburg Review, Conditions, The T.L.S., The Women's Review of Books, The Nation and other journals. Her stories and essays are published in more than sixty anthologies. Her collaborative work includes books, museum exhibits as well as theatre.
She has won fellowships and awards from The Rockefeller Foundation, The McKnight Foundation, The NEA, The Jerome Foundation, The Heinz Foundation, The Australia Council Literary Arts Board and numerous other sources. She has had Fulbright Fellowships to Tunisia and India. She has taught for over twenty-five years and won a Distinguished Teaching Award in 1999 from the University of Minnesota. She travels internationally giving readings, lectures and workshops.
Valerie Miner is now an artist-in-residence at the Clayman Institute for Gender Research, and a professor at Stanford University, contributing to the Feminist Studies Program and English Department.
Reviews
In a review of After Eden, Ainsley Drew comments: "Grief, environmentalism, immigration, homelessness and other significant issues are effortlessly woven in Valerie Miner's latest book that deals with a lesbian community in California. Heavy and hopeful, it's a must-read."In a review of After Eden in The Noe Valley Voice, Critic Olivia Boler writes: “Published in April by the University of Oklahoma Press, it is the story of Emily Adams, a city planner from Chicago who finds herself staying on at her summer cabin in coastal California after she learns of the sudden death of her long-term partner, Salerno. “One of the novel’s themes is the contemplation of the search for home and how one person’s claim on it can cause another person to feel invaded,” says Miner. The story also deals with the clash between loggers and environmentalists, and with native Californians and the migrant workers who work the lush agricultural land of MacKenzie Valley (read Mendocino).”
A review of After Eden in Books to Watch Out For praises the novel as “a sometimes heartbreaking, but ultimately rejuvenative story of a woman’s journey through grief and rebirth, populated with an eclectic family of choice and a supportive brother who goes through his own changes, too.”
In a review of After Eden in The Hollins Critic, Kyle Deacon comments that “…Miner raises the bar by framing Emily's course of self-repair with stunning lyrical prose and striking literary reinterpretations. The novel draws some of its inspiration from Milton's Paradise Lost, and Miner's modern revision provides a graceful correlation to the classic while adding depth to Emily's story.”
Works
- After Eden (2007)
- Abundant Light (2004)
- The Night Singers (2004)
- The Low Road (2001)
- Range of Light (1998)
- A Walking Fire (1994)
- Rumors from the Cauldron: Selected Essays, Reviews, and Reportage (1992)
- Trespassing and Other Stories (1989)
- All Good Women (1987)
- Winter’s Edge (1984)
- Murder in the English Department (1982)
- Movement, A Novel in Stories (1982)
- Blood Sisters (1981)
Honors and awards
- McKnight/Loft Artist Fellowship, 2005–2006
- Fulbright Senior Specialist Award (Indonesia) 2009
- Fulbright Senior Specialist Award (Tunisia), 2004
- Fulbright Senior Scholar Award (January–June, 2000) in India.
- Finalist, Lambda Literary Award in Fiction, 2005
- Hugh J. Luke Award for Fiction, for “Percussion,” published in Prairie Schooner, Fall, 2003
- McGinnis-Ritchie Award for Fiction, “Veranda,” Best Fiction in The Southwest Review, 2002
- McKnight Summer Fellow, 2002
- Finalist for PEN USA Creative Non-Fiction Award for The Low Road, 2002
- University College Distinguished Teaching Award, University of Minnesota, 1999
- McKnight Arts and Humanities Summer Fellowship, Summer, 1998
- Visiting Research Associate, University of Edinburgh, International Social Sciences Institute, April and May, 1997
- "Master Artist," Atlantic Center for the Arts, March, 1997
- Jerome Foundation Travel Fellowship, 1995–1997
- Bush Foundation Sabbatical Supplement Award, 1996–1997
- N.E.A Mobile Residency (to give readings and lectures in South East Alaska), Spring, 1996
- McKnight Research Fellowship, 1994–1997
- Common Rhythms Fellow, Lila Wallace Readers Digest Foundation, Centrum Foundation, 1993–1994
- McKnight Arts and Humanities Summer Fellowship, 1993
- Australia Council Literary Arts Grant, 1988
- PEN Syndicated Fiction Award, 1986
Residency Fellowships
- Residency Fellowship, Ucross, 2009
- MacDowell Residency Fellowship, 2002, 2003, 2004
- Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Fellowship, 1990, 1995, 2001, 2004, 2007, 2008
- Yaddo Writing Fellowship, 1999
- Heinz Foundation Fellowship, Hawthornden Castle, Midlothian, Scotland, Fall, 1996
- Rockefeller Foundation Residency at Bellagio Study Center, Italy, July–August 1994
- Fellow, Leighton Colony, Banff Arts Centre, Canada, July–August 1993
- Fellowship, Blue Mountain Center, May–June 1992
- Fellowship, Cummington Community for the Arts, Cummington, Massachusetts, October 1989