Biography

Jen Fawkes's debut book, Mannequin and Wife, was a 2020 Shirley Jackson Award Nominee, won the 2020 Foreword INDIES Gold medal in Short Stories, and was named one of Largehearted Boy’s Favorite Story Collections of 2020. Her work has appeared in One Story, Crazyhorse, Best Small Fictions 2020, and many others, and has won numerous fiction prizes, from Salamander, Washington Square Review, and others. Fawkes currently teaches Creative Writing at Louisiana State University.
     

Schedule

Noon to 12:45 p.m.
State Capitol, House Committee Room 1
Discussion
Lives Real and Imagined: Short Stories
Jen Fawkes with Tracy Carr

1:00 p.m. to 1:45 p.m.
Cavalier House Bookselling Tent
Book Signing

Tales the Devil Told Me

**2022 World Fantasy Award Finalist**
**2021 Foreword INDIES Silver Medal winner for Short Stories**
**One of Largehearted Boy's Favorite Short Story Collections of 2021**

"A magic talking mirror whose words reveal our collective humanity and vulnerability." -- Sharma Shields, author of The Cassandra

What if Captain Hook gave up marauding and took a gig at the Post Office? How did Hamlet's uncle Claudius become such a rat? What might happen if a plastic surgeon fell for Medusa? If Moby Dick could write a letter, what would he say to Ahab? The answers to these and many other questions can be found in Tales the Devil Told Me, winner of the 2020 Press 53 Award for Short Fiction.

These twelve stories examine the possible lives of classic literary villains as Professor Moriarty, Shere Khan, Rumpelstiltskin, Polyphemus, Mrs. Danvers and others, while illuminating the consumptive nature of love, the crushing weight of isolation, the false promise of beauty, and the power of storytelling itself.