TaraShea Nesbit

Education

• Ph.D. Creative Writing–Prose, University of Denver (2015)
• M.F.A. Creative Writing–Poetry, Washington University in St. Louis (2006)
• B.A. English Literature, The Ohio State University (2003)

Research and Teaching Interests

• 20th and 21st-century fiction and creative nonfiction
• environmental literature
• historical fiction 
• lyric essays
• digital storytelling
• multi-genre texts 
• creative writing pedagogy

Selected Publications

Novels

• Beheld. New York: Bloomsbury Publishing. 2020.
  • Reviews for Beheld appeared in The New York Times, USA Today, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Review, Library Journal, Washington Independent Review of Books, Booklist, BookPage, BookBrowse, Fiction Writers Review, and elsewhere. Chosen by USA Today as a “Book Not to Miss”, Salon as a “Best Book of March”, BookBrowse Editor’s Choice, Crime Reads “Best Historical Fiction of the Year (So Far)”, and BookMarks “Best Reviewed Book of the Week”. Listed as a Most Anticipated Book of 2020 by Vogue and Literary Hub.
• The Wives of Los Alamos. New York: Bloomsbury. 2014.
  • Released February 2014 by Bloomsbury US (US and Canada); April 2014 by Bloomsbury UK (UK, New Zealand, Australia); July 2014 by Ponte alle Grazie (World Italian); Fall 2014 by DuMont Buchverlag GmbH & Co. (World German); Spring 2014 by Turner Books (World Spanish).

Nonfiction

• Nesbit, TaraShea. "The Last Place We Were Happy" Granta 162 (Winter 2022). 9 February 2023. Print.
• Nesbit, TaraShea. “Haunt Us: TaraShea Nesbit on Reckoning with Ghosts, and Returning to the Same Story, Again and Again.” Literary Hub. 21 Oct 2021. Web.
• Nesbit, TaraShea. “Hanford Reach National Monument: Washington State.” Best Places 2021:Great Authors on Our America Series for Frommer’s Magazine. 24 Dec 2020. Web.
• "Flyover and Proud: TaraShea Nesbit Reckons with Home." Lit Hub. 18 March 2020. Web. 
• "In Praise of the Slow, Complex Crime Novel." 23 April 2020. CrimeReads. Web. 
• "See What You Do to Me." Granta 144 (Summer 2018): 179-195. Print. 
• "A Limo Ride to Frisch’s Big Boy." Ninth Letter 15.2 (Fall Winter 2018-2019): 20-33. Print. 
• Special Re-issue of "The Mothering Class" for Salon Magazine’s "Best Personal Essays of 2017" Series. 27 Dec 2017. Web.
• "The Mothering Class." Salon Magazine. 24 March 2017. Web.
• "Paper Nests." Fourth Genre 19.1 (Spring 2017): 121-123. Print.
• "Women Writing Through History." Vela Magazine. 15 June 2016. Web.
• "Tiny Truth." Creative Nonfiction Magazine 58 (Winter 2016). Print.
• "Where the River Makes a Noise." Salamander 38 (2014): 55-65. Print.
• "We Can Do a Lot: The Rise of First-Person Plural Narration." Books Blog. The Guardian. 14 May 2014. Web.
• "Secrets and Lives.’" Index on Censorship 2.2014 (2014): 111-114. Print.
• "Month to Month Loyalties." Bookanista. Spring (2014). Web. 
• "July 16, 1945." Quarterly West 73 (2011). Web.

Short Fiction

• "Until We Found Our Own." The Collagist 56 (2014). Web.
• "From Fields, From Concrete." The Collagist 56 (2014). Web.
• "West." The Los Angeles Review of Books Quarterly Journal The Fiction Issue (2013): 44-46. Print.
• "Inge and Her Imaginary Sister." The Collagist 54 (2013). Web.

Book Reviews

• Nesbit, TaraShea. "A Fateful Train Ride Connects Eras and CulhJres: Review of Jonathan Evison's Small World." The New York Times Online and Print. 11 Jan 2022 and 23 Jan 2022.

Essays In Anthologies

• "See What You Do to Me." Wanting: Women Writing Desire. New York: Catapult. 2023. Print. Revised and edited essay previously published in Granta.

Interviews and Recent Press

Written Interviews

• “TaraShea Nesbit on Tove Jansson, Matilda, and The Autobiography of Malcolm X: Rapid FireBook Recs from the Author of Beheld.” Oct 19, 2021. Book Marks. Web. 
• Ripkin, Mitzi. "TaraShea Nesbit on What We Don’t Talk About in the Plymouth Narrative InConversation with Mitzi Rapkin on the First Draft Podcast." First Draft: A Dialogue on Writing podcast, released July 13, 2020 on iTunes, LitHub, and elsewhere. Web.
• Gray, Barbara. "Beheld, The Latest Novel from Miami U. Professor TaraShea Nesbit." WVXU Cincinnati Public Radio, an interview released on July 2, 2020. Web.
• Sutherland, Amy. "TaraShea Nesbit on reading history, poetry, and fairy tales during the pandemic." Boston Globe, Apr. 2, 2020. Print and Web.
• Kurutz, Steven and Tarng, Tammy. "As book tours are canceled, authors connect with readers online." The New York Times, Mar. 19, 2020. Web.
• Bohlen, Teague. "TaraShea Nesbit on Writing and This Not Insignificant Life." Westword, Mar. 17, 2020. Print and Web.
• Volk, Patricia. "Was the Early U.S. All that Puritanical? A Novelist Investigates." Publisher’s Weekly, Nov. 22, 2019. Print and Web. A version of this article appeared in the 11/25/2019 print issue of Publishers Weekly Vol. 266 Issue 47, p30-31, under the headline: "Not So Puritanical."  

Selected Press

• Fogarty, Heather John. “40 Books to Read to Study a Divided Nation.” Oct 6, 2020. Los AngelesTimes. Web.

Radio Interviews

Grants and Awards

• 2024 Writer-in-Residence for the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library System
• Publishers Weekly Best Book of 2020 for Beheld
• The New York Times’ 100 Notable Books of the Year for Beheld
• Finalist for the 2021 Ohioana Book Award for Beheld
• 2021 Honoree in the Adult Fiction category of the Society of Midland Authors Annual Literary Award for Beheld
• The New York Times Editors’ Choice for Beheld
• 2021 Massachusetts Book Award “Must Read Book” for Beheld
• CrimeReads Best Historical Fiction of 2020 for Beheld
• April 2020 Indies Next Pick, selected by the American Booksellers Association for Beheld
• Winner, "Best Personal Essays of 2017" chosen by Salon Magazine for "The Mothering Class," December 20, 2017
• Winner, Community Reads Selection for The Wives of Los Alamos, One Book One Valley, October 2016
• Award Recipient, Summer Faculty Research Grant ($5,000), College of Arts and Sciences, Miami University, Summer 2016
• Finalist, 2015 PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize, PEN Literary Awards sponsored by PEN American Center
• Winner, Best Overall Book New Mexico and Best Historical Fiction, 2014 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards
• Editor’s Choice, The New York Times Book Review, Spring 2014
• Winner, Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Selection for The Wives of Los Alamos, Spring 2014
• Winner, Indies Choice Spring 2014 Debut Pick for The Wives of Los Alamos, sponsored by The American Booksellers Association, 2013

Readings and Invited Talks

• Featured Speaker, "The Women of Los Alamos: Gender, Oppenheimer, and the Atomic Bomb," Earlham College, Richmond, IN, February 2, 2024.
• Keynote Speaker, "Growing a Writing Garden," MFA Graduation at Regis University, Denver, CO, July 30, 2023.
• Invited Panelist, “Fictioning Archives” panel with John Keene and Namwali Serpell, sponsored by The Humanities Council, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, March 2, 2021.
• Featured Author, “TaraShea Nesbit.” Newsday Live Author Series, Long Island LitFest, Hosted by Hosted by Mark Chiusano, Dec 23, 2020. Virtual Event.
• Invited Panelist, “Telling Seventeenth-Century New England Stories Through the Archives" panel with Annie Bissett and Diane Glancy, sponsored by The American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, MA, Oct 15, 2020. Virtual Event. Featured Author, Beheld talk on research as a fiction writer, 2020 History Book Festival, Lewes, DE, July 30, 2020. Virtual Event.
• Featured Author, American Inspiration Series, Beheld talk and signing hosted by the Boston Public Library, Boston, MA, April 16, 2020. Virtual Event.
• Invited Presenter, “Working-Class Witnesses in the Academy,” AWP Conference, San Antonio, TX, scheduled for March 4–7, 2020 and rescheduled for the 2021 AWP Conference.
• Invited Presenter, “Tipping the Scales: Writing Women’s Lives in Biography & Historical Fiction, ”AWP Conference, Portland, Oregon, March 27-30, 2019, rescheduled for 2020 AWP.
• Panel Chair and Presenter, “#MeToo, Girlhood,” AWP Conference, Portland, Oregon, March 27– 30, 2019.