David A. Griffith
P.O. Box AD
Sweet Briar, Virginia 24595
EDUCATION:
M.F.A. in Creative Writing (Fiction), University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
B.A. in English, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN
EMPLOYMENT:
Chair of Creative Writing and Fiction Writing Instructor, Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts, 2001-Present
Instructor of First Year Composition, University of Notre Dame, 2005-2007
Instructor of English, Saint Mary's College, 2005-2007
Head Instructor of Journalism and Nonfiction, Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts, 2004
Instructor of English, Duquesne University, 2003-2004
Writing Consultant, University of Pittsburg Writing Center, 2003-2004
Instructor of English, University of Pittsburg, 2001-2004
Fiction Instructor, University of Pittsburgh’s Young Writer’s Institute, 1998-2002
Writer-in-Residence, Western Pennsylvania Writing Project’s Writers in the Schools Program, 1999-2002
Director of Education, Creative Nonfiction, 2001-2002
BOOKS:
A Good War is Hard to Find: The Art of Violence in America (Soft Skull Press, October 2006).
ESSAYS AND REVIEWS:
Review, Making Peace in the Post-Christian Era: Thomas Merton’s Challenge to the ‘War on Terror,’ in The Merton Seasonal, Spring 2007
“An Orchestrated Attack: War’s sound track echoes from Dresden to Baghdad”: Utne Reader, Jan/Feb 2007
“Prime Directive,” Killing the Buddha, www.killingthebuddha.com, October 2006
“Prime Directive,” Image: A Journal of the Arts & Religion, November 2005
“From Being to Nothingness: The Life and Suicide of Hunter S. Thompson,” Godspy, May 2005
“A Good War is Hard to Find: Flannery O’Connor Abu Ghraib and the Problem of American Innocence,” Godspy, July 2004
“Joe Stopped By: An Interview with Andrei Codrescu”, Creative Nonfiction, February 2003
“(C)ars Poetica,” The New Yinzer, July 2003
“Breaking the World Open: An Interview with Susan Neville”, Nidus, Spring 2002
“Meat,” Collision: A Journal of Creative Nonfiction, Spring 2001.
Fiction
“Love Letters of the Early 21st Century” The New Yinzer, February 2004
“Good Fiction,” in Pittsburgh Love Stories: An Anthology (TNY Press, October 2004).
“I’m For You,” in Bed Time Stories For People in Trouble: An Anthology (TNY Press, October 2002).
AWARDS:
Nominee, Pushcart Prize, for the essay “Prime Directive.” Nominated by Greg Wolfe ed. of Image: A Journal of Religion and the Arts, 2005
Vira I. Heinz Foundation Fellowship in Fiction Writing, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, June 2004
Nominee, National Foundation for Advancement in the Art’s Distinguished Teacher of the Year Award, 2003
Winner, Scott Turow Prize in Fiction, judged by Lee Smith, Spring 2000
SELECTED READINGS AND PRESENTATIONS:
Reading with Lewis “Buddy” Nordan; Jack Ridl Visiting Writers Series; Hope College, Holland, MI, February 2008
Soft Skull Press 15th Anniversary Reading; AWP Conference; New York City, January 30-December 3rd
Reading (with Benjamin Percy); Gist Street Reading Series; Pittsburgh, PA, December 2007
Panel chair, Nonfiction Now Conference;“Perception as Muse: Nonfiction, Collaborations between Image and Text”; University of Iowa, November 1-3
Colgate University; Hamilton, NY, October 10th, 2007
Featured reader, In Print 3: A Festival of First Books; Ball State University; Muncie, IN, March 22-22nd 2007
Panel chair, “Fact and Mystery: The Legacy of Flannery O'Connor for Nonfiction Writers”; AWP; Atlanta, GA, March 3rd 2007
Invited panelist, “Sex, Death and Creative Nonfiction”; AWP, Atlanta, GA, March 2, 2007
Invited panelist, Requiem: the Photojournalists of Vietnam; Snite Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame; February 2007
Reading and lecture, “Making Art/Waging Peace”; Goshen College; Goshen, IN, February 5th 2007
Reading, Shaman Drum Bookstore; Ann Arbor, MI, January 24th 2007
Workshop leader, “How Should I Write This? Should I Write This: The Ethics of Teaching and Writing Nonfiction”; 412 Literary Conference; University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, November 10, 2006
Reading sponsored by the Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture; University of Notre Dame, November 7, 2006
“Flannery O’Connor and the Populist Politics of Redemption”; Flannery O’Connor in the Age of Terrorism: An Academic Conference on Violence and Grace, Grand Valley State University; Grand Rapids, MI, October 2006
Reading; The Poetry Factory; St. Joseph, MI, September 2006
“Writing About Current Events in Fiction and Nonfiction”; Guest Artist and Lecturer; Westminster College Writing Workshop
New Wilmington, PA, March 2006; “A Good War is Hard to Find: The Art of Violence in America”; Art, Faith and Social Justice Arts Festival and Conference; Marquette University, November 2005
“City of Lost Souls”; Dr. George Bleasby Literary Colloquium; Westminster College, October 2005
“Inconvenient Evidence: The Implications of Abu Ghraib,”A Panel discussion hosted by The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA, December 2004
“A Good War is Hard to Find: Flannery O’Connor, Abu Ghraib and the Problem of American Innocence”
Epiphanies of Beauty: The Arts in Post-Christian Culture; A Conference hosted by the University of Notre Dame’s Center for Ethics and Culture, November 2004
Reading, “Prime Directive”; 412 National Creative Nonfiction Conference; Pittsburgh, PA, November 2004
“The Poetics of Home: The Novellas of Andre Dubus”; AWP annual conference, New Orleans, LA, March 2002
“Morality in the Fiction Workshop?”; The Other Home Room: Teaching Outside the Academy; AWP annual conference, Palm Springs, CA, March 2001
REVIEWS OF MY WORK:
Brevity, feature review by Dinty Moore, May 2007The New York Times Book Review, feature review by Christopher Sorrentino, April 1, 2007
Bookslut, feature review by Colleen Mondor, April 2007
The Literary Review (Farleigh Dickinson University), “Editor’s Choice” review by Ben Freeman, Winter 2007
Sojourners, January 2007
Pittsburgh City Paper, December 7, 2006
Time Out Chicago, A Good War is Hard to Find, Issue 86/October 19-26, 2006
“The Well Does Not Run Dry: Bush Notes,” Critical Mass: The Blog of the National Book Critics Circle Board of Directors, August 8, 2006
“Red-Hot Summer Reading,” National Post of Canada, July 8, 2006
“Read This: A Good War is Hard to Find,” This Magazine, March-April 2006
PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS:
Associated Writing Programs