Department of English › People › Core Faculty › bios › Jason England

Jason England

Visiting Assistant Professor in Creative Writing

Contact

BH 260 E
jasone(through)andrew.cmu.edu

Address
5000 Forbes Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15213

Bio

I was born and raised in New York City, where I spent my youth between a welfare hotel for the homeless in Times Square and a Harlem housing project. I have been a soda salesperson, a camp counselor, a parking lot attendant, a waiter, a bartender, a civil rights activist, a dean of college admissions, an adjunct professor, a visiting lecturer, and a distinguished lecturer. I graduated from Wesleyan University with high honors and three awards for fiction; got my MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop; and was the Carl Djerassi Fiction Fellow at the Wisconsin Institute. My short fiction has been anthologized, and my essays on race, sports, and societal issues have appeared in various publications, including Sports Illustrated, The Root, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. I am concurrently finishing my first novel and a collection of essays. I enjoy cooking more than I ever imagined I would, though just as much as my mother always predicted. I favor 70s American cinema and capable, colorful conversationalists. I have understood since age 15 - when I shot up from 5'7 to 6'3 over one summer - the fact of my elevated height, and you need not remind me I am tall.