Wendy Rawlings

Who is Wendy Rawlings?

Wendy Rawlings is an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and critic. She is a professor of English at The University of Alabama.

Rawlings is the author of two books. Come Back Irish, a collection of short stories published by Ohio State University Press in 2001, was hailed by Ron Carlson as "a sharp collection rich with mordant humor that colors [Rawlings'] honest take on the tender estrangements that radiate from love and family." In 2007, Rawlings won the Michigan Literary Fiction Award for her novel, The Agnostics, which was published that year by The University of Michigan Press. Novelist Sigrid Nunez called the novel "a poignant, exquisitely focused book."

In addition, Rawlings has published short fiction, essays, and criticism in a variety of journals, including AGNI, The Atlantic, Cincinnati Review, Crab Orchard Review, Fourth Genre, Massachusetts Review, The Normal School, Passages North, The Southern Review, Sonora Review, and Tin House.

Born in Washington D.C. in 1967, Rawlings grew up in Bayville, New York. She received a B.A. from Trinity College, an M.F.A. from Colorado State University, and a Ph.D. from The University of Utah. She has taught creative writing and literature at The University of Alabama since 2000, and lives in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.