Benjamin Percy
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Benjamin Percy (born March 28, 1979) is a current American academic and author of fiction and reviews.
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[edit] Biography
Percy was born on March 28, 1979 in Eugene, Oregon, and in his early life lived briefly in Hawaii. His family moved to Tumalo, Oregon when Percy was in the fourth grade and Percy attended a private school in Bend, Oregon.
From an early age he demonstrated interest and aptitude in writing, but considered archaeology a more practical career and spent several summers doing related work as an intern, then began study in that field at Brown University. Eventually finding archaeology 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, earning his Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, 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, and is currently a visiting assistant professor at Marquette University. Percy and his wife Lisa had a son, Connor, in 2006.
[edit] Fiction
Percy’s fiction has been published in numerous literary journals and magazines, and his first collection of short stories, The Language of Elk, was published by Carnegie-Mellon University Press in 2006. His short story, Refresh, Refresh, originally published in The Paris Review, won the Pushcart Prize for 2006 and was included in the anthology of short stories, Best American Short Stories 2006. At a reading of this story at Symphony Space, for the NPR radio program Selected Shorts, the editor for 2006 of the Best American Short Stories collection, Ann Patchett, indicated that she considered the story to be the best in the collection.
Percy’s fiction draws its inspiration primarily from the High Desert region of Central Oregon from which he hails. Percy says, "I think I'm writing about it with a mythic voice. My stories are about bigfoot 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 by The Paris Review, granted by that publication to an emerging author who has written for that publication.
Author Anthony Doerr writes that Percy’s “stories crackle with energy and violence and a furious beauty.”
[edit] Reviews
In addition to his fiction writing, Percy writes book reviews for The Capital Times.
[edit] References
- Jasper, David. Writing Stories the Color of Oregon -- Former Resident Releases Collection of Short Tales. The Bulletin (Bend, Oregon), April 11, 2006.
[edit] External links
- [1] Author Website
