Melanie Hamilton
Melanie M HamiltonProfessor of English and Creative Writing
Joined faculty in 2002
M.F.A., Oregon
B.A., Columbia (summa cum laude)
Contact Information
Scholarly Interest
Literary Fiction
Fiction/Non-fiction divide
Contemporary Fiction
Teaching Experience
Director Trias Residency for Writers . With colleagues and administrators, conceptualized the Trias Chair in accordance with the bequest of Peter Trias as a yearly visiting chair which combined high- and low-residency teaching and writing position for distinguished writers of national and international reputation. Managed publicity campaign in traditional and electronic media. Recruited applicants and managed searches. Recruited and hosted visiting writers Tom Piazza, Mary Gaitskill, Jeff VanderMeer, Lidia Yuknavitch. Provided support for reading series including Norman Rush, Yusef Komunyakaa, Wells Tower, Joanne Beard, and others.
Chair, English Department, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, NY. Fall 2009-Spring 2011. Mentored junior faculty, oversaw hiring and committee work. Directed departmental review. Initiated and carried out first curriculum reform since the early 1970s.
Associate Professor , Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, NY. 2008-2019. Introduced new courses, including Literary Science Fiction and Fantasy and Theory of Fiction.
Assistant Professor, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, NY. Fall, 2002-Spring 2008. Taught Literary Consciousness, Introduction to Creative Writing, Story and History, Flexing Sex and Advanced Fiction Workshop.
Assistant Professor, Rhodes College, Memphis, TN. 2000-2002
Courses Taught
English 200: Critical Analysis
Flexing Sex
Introduction to Creative Writing
Advanced Fiction Workshop: The Craft of Fiction
Senior Seminar: The Theory of Fiction
Contemporary British Literature
Story and History
Publications
“Discontinued Safe Words” McSweeney’s Internet Tendencies, March 3, 2016
“Chrono-Rama-Boom-Boom or a Liturgy of Some Hours,” short fiction. Seneca Review (literary journal), fall, 2012.
“10,000 Words,” short fiction, North Dakota Quarterly Review (literary journal), Winter and Spring, 2009
“Rock Star” The Southern Review . 43.3 Ed. Bret Lott. Baton Rouge, Louisiana: Louisiana State University, 2007.
“Mistress of Leche Island” StoryQuarterly . 41 Ed. M. M. M. Hayes with Carol Edgarian and Tom Jenks. Narrative Magazine, 2005.
“Bleeding to Sleep” Laurel Review . 39.1 Eds. Rebecca Aronson and John Gallaher. Maryville, Missouri: Northwest Missouri State University and Greentower Press, 2005.
“Perversion,” short fiction. Tattoo Highway (literary journal), fall, 2003.
“The Darkness Comes Back,” short fiction. Tattoo Highway (literary journal), spring 2002.
“Fit,” short fiction. River City (literary journal), winter, 2002
“Fit,” short fiction, translated into Italian. Diversi Racconti (anthology), Avagliano. June, 2001
“Nothing to Me,” memoir. Out of the Ordinary (anthology), St. Martin’s Press.
August, 2000
“The First Old,” short fiction. Virgin Fiction ( anthology), William Morrow and
Company. June, 1999
“The Death of the Author,” short fiction. Webdelsol . Spring, 1999
“Tracing Paper,” short fiction, Columbia Review . Winter,
1993. Reprinted by The Watch . Brandeis University, Spring, 1993
SERVICE PROJECTS
Teacher, Cornell Prison Education Project
2012, 2013 Trampoline Storytelling Champion, Lot 10, Ithaca, NY.
Board Member, Ithaca City of Asylum, 2005-6. Worked for organization which provides asylum for endangered writers from abroad.