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Joe Wilkins
Professor of English and Environmental Studies, Director of Creative Writing, Department Chair

T.J. Day Hall 319

503-883-2696

jwilkins@linfield.edu

I believe in the power of writing to help us understand and shape experience and, thereby, to better know and care for ourselves, one another, and our shared world. I direct the creative writing program and teach courses in creative writing, environmental studies and inquiry seminar. While I just plain love teaching, some of my favorite courses include Poetry Writing; Northwest Ecology and Environmental Writing; and Rural America in Contemporary Literature, Film and Song.

I am the author of a novel, Fall Back Down When I Die, praised as “remarkable and unforgettable” in a starred review at Booklist and short-listed for the First Novel Award from the Center For Fiction and the Pacific Northwest Book Award. I am also the author of a memoir, The Mountain and the Fathers, and four collections of poetry, including When We Were Birds, winner of the Oregon Book Award, and Thieve. My work has been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, Russian and Polish, and my stories, essays and poems have been widely published and anthologized.

I live a short bike ride from campus and enjoy exploring the coast, rivers and mountains of Oregon with my wife, son and daughter.

Education

• M.F.A in creative writing, The University of Idaho, 2007
• B.S. in computer engineering, Honors, Gonzaga University, 2002

Academic interests:

• Writing across the genres
• Environmental writing
• Literature from rural America

Publications:

The Entire Sky. New York: Little, Brown, and Company (forthcoming in July 2024). Novel.

Thieve. Spokane: Lynx House Press, 2020. Poetry.

• Winner of the 2018 Blue Lynx Prize in Poetry
• Finalist for the 2021 Oregon Book Award

Fall Back Down When I Die. New York: Little, Brown, and Company, 2019. Novel.

• Winner of the 2020 High Plains Book Award in Fiction
• Finalist for the 2019 Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award
• Finalist for the 2019 First Novel Award from the Center for Fiction
• Named a Booklist Editor's Choice for 2019

When We Were Birds. Fayetteville: University of Arkansas Press, 2016. Poetry.

• Winner of the 2017 Oregon Book Award in Poetry
• Finalist for the 2015 Miller Williams Prize in Poetry, Edited by Billy Collins

The Mountain and the Fathers: Growing up on the Big Dry. Berkeley: Counterpoint, 2012. Memoir.

• Winner of the 2014 GLCA New Writers Award in Nonfiction
• Finalist for the 2013 Orion Book Award
• Named a 2012 Montana Book Award Honor Book

Notes from the Journey Westward. Buffalo: White Pine Press, 2012. Poetry.

• Winner of the 17th Annual White Pine Poetry Prize
• Winner of the 2013 High Plains Book Award
• Finalist for the 2013 Society of Midlands Authors Book Award

Killing the Murnion Dogs. New York: Black Lawrence Press, 2011. Poetry.

• Finalist for the 2012 Paterson Poetry Prize
• Finalist for the 2012 High Plains Book Award
• Finalist for the 2012 Drake University Emerging Writers Award