Professor Marilyn Moriarty聽received her doctorate from the University of California, Irvine, with a dissertation on Shakespeare and a second emphasis in literary theory. She compiled the text of two Shakespeare plays for drama anthologies and co-edited a collection of essays on postmodern architecture. She is the author of聽Writing Science through Critical Thinking, a scientific writing textbook, and聽Moses Unchained, which won the Association of Writers & Writing Programs Creative Nonfiction Award. Her essays have been published in聽The Antioch Review, The Chattahoochee Review, Creative Nonfiction, The Kenyon Review, Raritan, River Teeth,聽and others. Three have been named 鈥淣otable鈥 by editors of the聽Best American Essays聽series. She won the 2014 Faulkner-Wisdom Gold Medal for the essay. Her stories have won the Katherine Anne Porter Prize, the Peregrine Prize for fiction, and the University of Utah novella contest. Her essay 鈥淏one Lab鈥 was anthologized in the 2024聽Best Spiritual Literature聽(Vol. 9). Most recently she was announced the winner in the Scriptwriting Category of the 2025 Hammond House International Literary Prize. Her forthcoming book聽Splintered Shadows: Recovering a French R茅sistante聽will be out in August 2026 from University of North Georgia Press.聽聽She began teaching at Hollins University in 1992 and celebrates her retirement at the end of this year.