R.A. Frumkin
EDUCATION
2016 | M.S. in Journalism, Northwestern University.
2014 | M.F.A. in Fiction, Iowa Writers’ Workshop.
Thesis: Ways the World Might Be (novel).
2012 | B.A. in Philosophy, Carleton College. Thesis: “Hannah Arendt, St. Augustine, and Love of the World.”
PUBLICATIONS
Books
2018 | The Comedown, novel (hardcover, Henry Holt; paperback 2019, Henry Holt).
TBD | Fugato and Other Stories (work in progress).
Fiction
2020/forthcoming | “Elias” (Joyland).
2020/forthcoming | “Bugsy” (Hazlitt, Canada).
2019 | “Fugato” (Granta, UK); 2020/forthcoming (Analog, Switzerland).
2018 | The Comedown, excerpt (Literary Hub).
2013 | “The Glitch” (Granta, UK); 2016 Granta in Spain (translation).
2008 | “Monster” (Post Road); Best American Nonrequired Reading 2009 (Mariner).
Creative Nonfiction
2020/forthcoming | “Recitatif” (Triangle House).
2020/forthcoming | “The Bullfighter from Brooklyn” (Granta, UK).
2020 | “The Optimist’s Apocalypse” (Guernica).
2018 | “Tripped Up” (The Baffler).
2018 | “Learning to Write Characters Who Make Me Feel Less Alone” (Literary Hub).
2018 | “Headless Hearts” (Poetry Magazine).
2018 | “On Envy, the MFA, and Writing Under Capitalism” (Catapult).
2018 | “American Maniac” (Granta, UK).
2016 | “Election: On Brain Trauma, Queerness, and Digging for Old Coke Bottles in Cleveland” (Catapult).
2015 | “Atypical: On Autism, Misfits, and Neurodiversity” (Catapult); named a notable essay in Best American Essays 2016.
2015 | “Your Prescribing Doctor: Adolescence and Adulthood” (McSweeney’s).
2015 | “Your Prescribing Doctor: Kidhood” (McSweeney’s).
2014 | “The Abyss” (Granta, UK).
2014 | “Your Prescribing Doctor: Subcontinental Lithiation Pt. 1” (McSweeney’s).
2014 | “Your Prescribing Doctor: Subcontinental Lithiation Pt. 2”(McSweeney’s).
2014 | “Your Prescribing Doctor: I Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (McSweeney’s).
Journalism
2020/forthcoming | “Jessalynn Graham and the Criminalization of Domestic Violence Survivors” (The New Republic).
2020 | “Not the Perfect Victim” (Guernica).
2019 | “The Group Getting Queer People Outside Together” (Outside).
2018 | “Defense Team Works to Move Van Dyke Trial out of Cook County, Citing Fairness Concerns for Officer Who Shot Laquan McDonald” (Social Justice News Nexus).
2017 | “Two Syrian Twins Were Separated by the Assad Regime in 1984 – Now They’re Reunited in Chicago” (Pacific Standard).
2017 | “The Role of Photography in Resisting Trump and Racism” (The Establishment).
2017 | “In The Face of Threats to Trans Identity, Trans Liberation March Draws Massive Crowd” (Social Justice News Nexus).
2016 | “Chicago Sex Workers Demand Right to Work Without Threat of Violence” (Social Justice News Nexus).
2016 | “Six Flags Not So Great for Foreign Work-Visa Students” (In These Times).
2016 | “Chicago Youth Activists Fight Trump’s Deportation Threats” (Social Justice News Nexus).
2016 | “Post-Election, Fight for Police Accountability in Chicago Continues” (Social Justice News Nexus).
2016 | “What Price Statehood? For Some, a Loss of Independence” (Social Justice News Nexus).
Interviews
2020/forthcoming | Ilana Masad (Full Stop).
2019 | Jeannie Vanasco (Nylon).
2019 | Amanda Goldblatt (Nylon).
2019 | What the Scientists Who Photographed the Black Hole Like to Read (Paris Review).
2019 | Andrew Ridker (Full Stop).
Criticism
2020/forthcoming | Addiction As a Literary Concept and Good Morning, Destroyer of Men’s Souls (Washington Post).
2020/forthcoming | The Millennial Condition Under Late Capitalism and Temporary (Washington Post).
2020/forthcoming | The Object of Objects: Elliott Colla’s We Are All Things (Full Stop).
2020/forthcoming | Becoming Yourself: Disa Wallander’s Becoming Horses (Full Stop).
2020/forthcoming | The Cataclysm Before the Cataclysm: on Tsuge’s The Swamp, Veasna’s Year of the Rabbit, and Gendry-Kim’s Grass (Full Stop).
2019 | The Junior Spy Novel and The Swallows (Washington Post).
2019 | Sexism in the MFA World and Loudermilk (Washington Post).
2011 | “Our Psychic Living Room: Reading David Foster Wallace” (The Common Review).
TEACHING POSITIONS
2019 - Present | Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing, Southern Illinois University-Carbondale.
2018 - 2019 | Visiting Assistant Professor of Creative Writing, Louisiana State University.
2017 - 2018 | Adjunct Lecturer in English, Northeastern Illinois University.
2017 - 2018 | Visiting Lecturer in English, University of Illinois-Chicago.
2017 | Instructor in Fiction Writing, Catapult.
2013 - 2014 | Instructor in Fiction Writing, University of Iowa.
SERVICE
Lectures and Faculty Readings
2020 | Fiction and Distraction (speaker, Sigma Tau Delta and SIUC English Department).
2019 | Devil’s Kitchen Literary Festival (SIUC English Department).
Digital Humanities Projects
2019- | Night Sweats (narrative comedy podcast).
2020- | Sick City (Twine fiction).
GRANTS, FELLOWSHIPS, AND HONORS
2018 | Creative Writing Fellowship, Luminarts Cultural Foundation.
2015 | Kathryn Davis Fellowship for Peace, Middlebury College.
2015 | Richard E. Guthrie Memorial Fellowship, University of Iowa.
2014 | McSweeney’s Column Competition Winner.
2014 | Critical Languages Scholarship, U.S. Department of State.
2013 | Advanced German Scholarship, German Academic Exchange Service.
2013 | Teaching-Writing Fellowship, University of Iowa.
2012 | Meta Rosenberg Fellowship, University of Iowa.
PANELS/TALKS
2018 | The Rebeccas: A Conversation Between Rebecca Makkai and Rebekah Frumkin (speaker, Volumes Bookcafe).
2018 | Work-Work Balance: When a Day Job Pays More than the Bills (panelist, AWP).
2017 | Alternatives to Calling the Police During Mental Health Crises (organizer and facilitator).
2017 | Queer Activists Living in the Age of Trump (panelist, Northwestern University).
2011 | Nebeneinander, Nacheinander: James Joyce, Bertrand Russell, and the Philosophy of Language (presenter, Zurich James Joyce Foundation Joyce Symposium).
EDITORIAL EXPERIENCE
2010-2012 | Contributing Editor, The Common Review.
2008-2010 | Editorial Assistant, The Common Review.
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
2016 | Independent Researcher, Social Justice News Nexus.
2011 | Research Fellow, Zurich James Joyce Foundation.
2008-2009 | Research Assistant, The Great Books Foundation.
READINGS
2019 | Mission Creek Festival (Iowa City, IA; sponsored by The Believer).
2018 | Lake Forest Bookstore (Lake Forest, IL).
2018 | Scuppernong Books (Greensboro, NC).
2018 | Gramercy Books (Bexley, OH).
2018 | Cuyahoga Library (Greater Cleveland, OH).
2018 | Bookbug (Kalamazoo, MI).
2018 | Point Street Reading Series (Providence, RI).
2018 | Prairie Lights (Iowa City, IA).
2018 | Women and Children First (Chicago, IL).
2018 | Northeastern Illinois University (Chicago, IL).
2014 | University of Iowa (Iowa City, IA).
2014 | Iowa Writers’ Workshop (Iowa City, IA).
2012 | Carleton College (Northfield, MN).
LANGUAGES
German | Advanced.
Spanish | Intermediate.
Hindi | Basic.
Latin | Basic.