Fellowships & Awards

• Finalist, the L.A. Times Book Prize, The Wildlands

• Finalist, the Chicago Review of Books Awards, The Wildlands

• First Editions Club, Parnassus Books, The Wildlands

• First Place, the Barnes & Noble Discover Award, The Lightkeepers

• First Place, the Chicago Review of Books Awards, The Lightkeepers

• AudioFile Earphones Award, The Lightkeepers (audiobook)

• Friends of American Writers Literary Award, The Last Animal

• Finalist, the Orion Book Award, The Last Animal

• November Indie Next List, The Last Animal 

• Indies Introduce Debut Writers Selection, The Last Animal

• Illinois Arts Council Agency Award, "In the Spirit Room"

• "Other Distinguished Stories," Best American Short Stories, "Dharma at the Gate"

• First Place, Glimmer Train Fiction Open, "Captivity"

• First Place, Chautauqua Contest, "Silence" 

• "Other Distinguished Stories," Best American Short Stories, "Captivity"

• The Iowa Fellowship

Degrees

• ​​M.F.A, Iowa Writers' Workshop, 2003

• B.A, Oberlin College​, 2001

Author Bio

Abby Geni is the author of the novels The Wildlands and The Lightkeepers, as well as a short story collection, The Last Animal. Her books have been translated into seven languages and have won the Barnes & Noble Discover Award and the Chicago Review of Books Awards, among other honors. Her latest novel, The Wildlands, was named one of the best books of 2018 by Kirkus and Buzzfeed and was a finalist for the L.A. Times Book Prize. Geni is a faculty member at StoryStudio Chicago and recently served as Visiting  Associate Professor of Fiction at the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. 

Interviews

Abby Geni

(AB-ee JEE-nee)