Lon Otto

Fiction Writer

Saint Paul, MN
Minnesota US

Author's Bio

I have published three collections of stories—A Nest of Hooks (U. of Iowa Press), winner of the Iowa School of Letters Award for Short Fiction, Cover Me (Coffee House Press), and A Man in Trouble (Brighthorse Books). I have also published the craft e-book Grit: Bringing Physical Experience into Imaginative Writing. My writing is in a number of anthologies, including The Pushcart Prize, American Fiction, Flash Fiction, Flash Fiction Forward, Blink, Blink Again, Townships, The Runner’s Literary Companion, and Not Normal, Illinois, and in the craft text Best Words, Best Order. Several of my stories have been performed on NPR’s “Selected Shorts.” I regularly teach in the University of Iowa Summer Writing Festival and am professor emeritus at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Publications & Prizes

Anthologies:
Blink Again (Spout Press, 2011)
,
Flash Fiction Forward: 80 Very Short Stories (Norton, 2006)
,
Flash Fiction: Very Short Stories (Norton, 1992)
Books:
Cover Me (Coffee House Press, 1988)
,
Water Bodies (Coffee House Press, 1986)
,
A Nest of Hooks (University of Iowa Press, 1978)
Journals: ,
Fifth Wednesday Journal
,
Great River Review
, ,
Water~Stone Review
Prizes won: 

Iowa School of Letters Award for Short Fiction, Prairie Schooner Virginia Faulkner Award for Excellence in Fiction, Loft-McKnight Award of Distinction

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
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Last update: Oct 20, 2016