Melanie Rae Thon (born 1957, last name pronounced "tone") is an American fiction writer known for work that moves beyond and between genres, erasing the boundaries between them as it explores diversity, permeability, and interdependence from a multitude of human and more-than-human perspectives.

Biography

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Thon was born in Kalispell, Montana. She received a B.A. in English from the University of Michigan in 1980 and an M.A. in creative writing from Boston University in 1982. She has taught at Emerson College, the University of Massachusetts Boston, Syracuse University, Ohio State University, and the University of Utah, where she is Professor Emeritus.[1]

Writing

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Thon's most recent books, chapbooks, and fine art editions are As If Fire Could Hide Us (2023); Silence & Song (2015); The 7th Man (2015); The Bodies of Birds (2019); Lover (2019); and The Good Samaritan Speaks (2015). She is also the composer of the novels The Voice of the River (2011); Sweet Hearts (2001); Meteors in August (1990); and Iona Moon (1993); and the story collections In This Light (2011); Girls in the Grass (1991); and First, Body (1997). Her work has been included in Best American Short Stories (1995, 1996);[2][3] three Pushcart Prize Anthologies (2003, 2006, 2008); and O. Henry Prize Stories (2006).[4] In 1996, Granta included Thon on its list of the Twenty Best Young American Novelists.[5] Thon's fiction has been translated into French, Italian, German, Spanish, Croatian, Finnish, Japanese, Arabic, and Persian.

Awards

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Thon is a recipient of a Fellowship in Creative Arts from The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (2016),[6] a Whiting Writer's Award (1997),[7] the Hopwood Award (1980), two Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts (1992, 2008),[8] the Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association Reading the West Book Award (2012),[9] the Gina Berriault Award (2012),[10] and a Lannan Foundation Writer's Residency in Marfa, Texas (2005).[11] In 2009, she was Virgil C. Aldrich Fellow at the Tanner Humanities Center.[12]

Works

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Books

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  • Meteors in August. Random House. 1990. ISBN 978-0-394-57664-0
  • Girls in the Grass. Random House. 1991. ISBN 978-0-394-57663-3.
  • Iona Moon. Simon & Schuster. 1993. ISBN 978-0-671-79687-7.
  • First, Body. Houghton Mifflin. 1997. ISBN 978-0-395-78588-1.
    • "Little White Sister," Originally Published in Ploughshares, Winter 1993-1994
    • "Xmas, Jamaica Plain," Originally Published in Granta 54: Best of Young American Novelists, Summer 1996
  • Sweet Hearts. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2001. ISBN 978-0-395-78589-8.
  • In This Light: New and Selected Stories. Graywolf Press. 2011.
  • The Voice of the River. Fiction Collective 2. 2011. ISBN 978-1-573-66162-1.
  • Silence & Song. Fiction Collective 2. 2015. ISBN 978-1-573-66053-2.
  • The 7th Man. New Michigan Press. 2015. ISBN 978-1-934832-52-3.
  • The Good Samaritan Speaks (Prompt 4). Prompt Press. 2015.
  • Lover (Gallery Series 2). Prompt Press (limited fine art edition). 2018.
  • The Bodies of Birds. New Michigan Press. 2019. ISBN 978-1-934832-68-4.
  • As If Fire Could Hide Us. Fiction Collective 2. 2023. ISBN 978-1573662000 ISBN 978-1573662000

Fictions, Nonfictions, & Poetry

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References

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  1. ^ "Melanie Rae Thon". Granta. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  2. ^ Thon, Melanie Rae (1995). "First, Body". In Smiley, Jane (ed.). Best American Short Stories. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. pp. 243–262. ISBN 978-0395711798.
  3. ^ Thon, Melanie Rae (1996). "Xmas, Jamaica Plain". In Wideman, John Edgar Wideman (ed.). Best American Short Stories. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. pp. 321–328. ISBN 978-0395752906.
  4. ^ "Melanie Rae Thon". www.whiting.org. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  5. ^ "The Best of the Young Novelists". Granta. 54: 297–305. 1996.
  6. ^ "John Simon Guggenheim Foundation | Melanie Rae Thon". Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  7. ^ "Melanie Rae Thon". www.whiting.org. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  8. ^ "Melanie Rae Thon". www.arts.gov. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  9. ^ "Mountains & Plains AKA Reading the West | Between the Covers Bookstore". www.between-the-covers.com. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  10. ^ "Gina Berriault Award". newhills. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  11. ^ "Lannan Foundation". Lannan Foundation. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  12. ^ "Melanie Rae Thon". Image Journal. Retrieved 2021-09-20.