KATHY FLANN

Kathy Flann

Kathy Flann's first short story collection, Smoky Ordinary, won the Serena McDonald Kennedy Award and was published by Snake Nation Press. Her second collection, Get a Grip, received the George Garrett Fiction Prize and was published by Texas Review Press. Get a Grip was named one of the Best Books of the Year by Baltimore Magazine and it appeared in the Top 10 Baltimore Books chosen by Baltimore City Paper. It also won the short story category of The Best Book Awards, The International Book Award and the National Indie Excellence Award. Her short stories have appeared in more than 25 journals and anthologies, including Shenandoah, The North American Review, Blackbird, The Michigan Quarterly Review and New Stories from the South.

She has served as a Senior Lecturer and Course Leader of creative writing at the University of Cumbria in England and during that time, she created mini-courses for the BBC's Get Writing website and served on the Board of the National Association of Writers in Education. After moving to Baltimore, Maryland, she taught creative writing at Goucher College for eleven years, receiving tenure and promotion to Associate Professor. Currently, she teaches writing at the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth.

She has taught at more than 35 writing conferences and given over 40 readings of her own work at bookstores and festivals. Her advice column for aspiring writers appears quarterly in Stay Thirsty Magazine. In addition, she has written a regular column about teaching writing for the UK’s Writing in Education and her creative nonfiction and feature articles have appeared in Baltimore Style, Baltimore Fishbowl, The Texas Review and Monkeybicycle.

Kathy Flann grew up in the Washington, DC area, and studied literature and writing at Virginia Tech, Auburn University and UNC-Greensboro. She has been a fellow at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Sozopol Fiction Seminars in Bulgaria and Le Moulin à Nef in France, and she has received grants from the Maryland Arts Council and the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts.

She lives with her husband, son and an 11-pound Yorkie-poo in the Baltimore area. Her latest book, WRITE ON - Critical Tips for Aspiring Authors, was published by Stay Thirsty Press in 2020.