Sophia Veltfort

Sophia Veltfort
Assistant Professor of Practice in the Arts
sophiaveltfort@uchicago.edu
Taft 304
MFA in Fiction, Cornell University, 2020 / MA in Creative Writing (Prose Fiction), University of East Anglia, 2014 (Marshall Scholar) / MSt in English (1900-Present), Oxford University, 2013 (Marshall Scholar)
Research Interests: Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, 20th and 21st Century British and American Literature, Narrative, Narrative Theory

Synopsis

I write short fiction, flash fiction, novels, and creative nonfiction. My work focuses on the competing narratives that structure people’s lives—instances of reading and misreading, of negotiating stories. I am interested in the moments when such fictions come into conflict.

Writing Profile

My fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Prairie Schooner, Writer’s Digest online (first place, 89th Annual Writing Competition), the Santa Monica Review, Narrative online (30 Below Contest finalist), Chicago Tribune online (Nelson Algren finalist), and Alaska Quarterly Review, among other journals. My nonfiction has appeared in Harvard Review and been selected as a Notable Essay in the Best American Essays. I am completing my first novel and story collection.

Teaching

  • Beginning Fiction Workshop: Metamorphoses
  • Technical Seminar in Fiction: Who Sees and Who Speaks?

Selected Publications

  • “Movie Stubs.” Forthcoming in The Normal School.
  • “Queen of the Dryads.” Forthcoming in Prairie Schooner.
  • “How Easy It Is To Leave.” Pigeon Pages. March 27, 2022.
  • “Schism, 1995.” Writer’s Digest online. First place in the Literary / Mainstream Short Story Category of the 89th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition. November 4, 2020.
  • “Ex-Lover.” Santa Monica Review 32 No. 2. 2020.
  • “Generalized Barotrauma on a Fifteenth Birthday.” Narrative online (Story of the Week). 30 Below Contest Finalist. 30 Below 30 List. February 28, 2020.
  • “Gingersnaps.” Meridian 44. 2020. Pushcart Prize nominee.
  • “Plus One.” Quiddity 11.2. December 1, 2018.
  • “Olivia.” Chicago Tribune online. Nelson Algren Award finalist. June 2, 2018.
  • “Bishop Street.” Post Road 33. First Place in Flash Fiction Contest. 2017.
  • “Clown College.” Hobart. September 8, 2017.
  • “Pigeons.” Saturday Evening Post online. May 12, 2017.
  • “Taking Things.” Alaska Quarterly Review 33 No. 3 & 4. 2017.
  • “Missing.” The Harvard Review 42. 2012. Selected as a finalist in the Norman Mailer College Writing Awards and as a Notable Essay in The Best American Essays 2013.
Subject Area: Fiction, Nonfiction