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Bennett Sims (author)

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For the bishop, see Bennett Sims.
Bennett Sims
BornBaton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S.
OccupationWriter, novelist
Alma materPomona College
Iowa Writers' Workshop
Notable worksA Questionable Shape (2013)

Bennett Sims is an American fiction writer with two book publications, the novel A Questionable Shape and the short story collection White Dialogues. He is an assistant professor at the University of Iowa.

Early life and education

Sims was born and raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.[1][2] During high school, he spent three summers in the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts' boarding program, where he wrote fiction.[3] He graduated from Pomona College in 2008, where he was mentored by David Foster Wallace.[3] He later graduated from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, where he was a Truman Capote Fellow,[4] and he served as a Provost's Postgraduate Visiting Writer at the University of Iowa from 2012-2013.[5]

Career

Sims's debut novel, A Questionable Shape, was published by Two Dollar Radio on May 1, 2013.[6] It was named one of the best books of 2013 by Complex[7] Book Riot,[8] and L Magazine.[9] It was shortlisted for the 2013 Believer Book Award[10] and won the 2014 Bard Fiction Prize, which included a $30,000 cash prize and a semester-long writer-in-residence appointment at Bard College.[11]

Reviews often referred to the book as a novel with zombies that is not a zombie novel,[12][13][14] set in Louisiana and referring opaquely to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.[15][16] It received generally positive reviews from media outlets including The Guardian,[17] Electric Literature,[18] Los Angeles Review of Books,[19] Publishers Weekly,[20] and The Millions.[21]

In 2017, Sims published his second book, a short story collection called White Dialogues, with Two Dollar Radio on September 12, 2017.[22] Carmen Maria Machado called the collection "[o]ne of the most genuinely terrifying, brilliant short story collections of the past decade" in Literary Hub[23] and Hannah Pittard wrote that it "moves readers from one beleaguered mind to another by way of nearly hysterical examination" in The New York Times Book Review.[24] It also received positive reviews from Publishers Weekly,[25] Kirkus Reviews,[26] and Bookforum, in which Tony Tulathimutte called Sims "possibly the smartest and most inventive writer of his (my) generation."[27] After the publication of the book, Sims was a Rome Prize Fellow at the American Academy in Rome in 2018-2019, where he worked on his third book, a novel.[28]

His stories have been published in The Iowa Review,[29] Story,[30] Conjunctions,[31] Ploughshares,[32] and the Pushcart Prize Anthology.[33]

He currently teaches undergraduate fiction courses at the University of Iowa.[34]

References

  1. ^ "Bennett Sims". The Times. April 2, 2022. Retrieved April 2, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ Weesam (April 2, 2022). "Bennett Sims". Worlds Without End. Retrieved April 2, 2022.
  3. ^ a b Loeb, Eryn (2013-05-01). "First: Bennett Sims's A Questionable Shape". Poets & Writers Magazine. 41 (3): 75–80.
  4. ^ "Bennett Sims". UK. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  5. ^ "Past Provost's Postgraduate Visiting Writers and Fellows | English | College of Liberal Arts and Sciences | The University of Iowa". english.uiowa.edu. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  6. ^ "A Questionable Shape". Two Dollar Radio. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  7. ^ "The Best Books of 2013". Complex. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  8. ^ Ukura, Kim (2013-12-10). "Riot Round-Up: The Best Books of 2013". BOOK RIOT. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  9. ^ "The 15 Best Books of 2013 - Page 3 of 4". The L Magazine. 2013-12-18. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  10. ^ "Announcing the 2013 Believer Book and Poetry Award Winners". Believer Magazine. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  11. ^ Relations, Bard Public. "Annual Bard Fiction Prize Is Awarded To Bennett Sims | Bard College Public Relations". www.bard.edu. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  12. ^ "Review: A Questionable Shape, by Bennett Sims". Electric Literature. 2013-06-03. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  13. ^ "A Questionable Shape by Bennett Sims review – Zombies in Louisiana". the Guardian. 2014-07-11. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  14. ^ Goldman, Nathan. "A Zombie Novel Without Zombies: An Interview with Bennett Sims | The American Reader". The American Reader. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  15. ^ Full Stop. "Bennett Sims". Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  16. ^ "Los Angeles Review of Books". Los Angeles Review of Books. 2013-07-28. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  17. ^ "A Questionable Shape by Bennett Sims review – Zombies in Louisiana". the Guardian. 2014-07-11. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  18. ^ "A Questionable Shape". Electric Literature. 2013-05-01. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  19. ^ "Los Angeles Review of Books". Los Angeles Review of Books. 2013-07-28. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  20. ^ "A Questionable Shape by Bennett Sims". www.pubishersweekly.com. 2013-05-01. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  21. ^ "At the Frontiers of the Unsayable: Bennett Sims's A Questionable Shape". The Millions. 2013-05-21. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  22. ^ "White Dialogues". Two Dollar Radio. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  23. ^ "26 Books From the Last Decade that More People Should Read". Literary Hub. 2019-12-03. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  24. ^ Pittard, Hannah (2017-11-17). "Other People's Minds: Four New Story Collections". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  25. ^ "White Dialogues by Bennett Sims". Publishers Weekly. 2017-10-01. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  26. ^ WHITE DIALOGUES | Kirkus Reviews.
  27. ^ "Top Shelf". Bookforum. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  28. ^ Rome, American Academy in. "Bennett Sims". American Academy in Rome. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  29. ^ SIMS, BENNETT (2014). "City of Wolfmen". The Iowa Review. 44 (3): 3–6. ISSN 0021-065X.
  30. ^ Haas, Katy. "Story - 2015". www.newpages.com. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  31. ^ "A Nightmare, by Bennett Sims". Conjunctions. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  32. ^ "Project MUSE - Ploughshares-Volume 44, Number 1, Spring 2018". muse.jhu.edu. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  33. ^ "Sims; Bennett – Story". www.storymagazine.org. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
  34. ^ "Bennett Sims | English | College of Liberal Arts and Sciences | The University of Iowa". english.uiowa.edu. Retrieved 2022-04-02.
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