DINAH LENNEY OCTOBER 8, 2014
2136 Princeton Avenue
Los Angeles, California 90026
(323)664-8186 cell: (323)633-6351
email:
EDUCATION
Bennington Writing Seminars, MFA in Creative Nonfiction and Literature
Yale University, Bachelor of Arts, American Studies.
Neighborhood Playhouse School, Certificate of Acting.
PROFESSIONAL ACADEMIC EXPERIENCE
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Faculty Fellow, Center for Teaching Excellence, University of Southern California, 2013 - 2015
Capstone Thesis Advisor, Narrative Studies, Spring, 2014
Graduate Mentor, School of Drama, Spring, 2014
Assistant Professor (Teaching), appointed June, 2012, University of Southern California
Fulltime Lecturer 2009 - 2012
Visiting Faculty, February, 2014, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington.
Visiting Faculty,March, 2014 Denison University, Denision, Ohio.
Instructor July, 2014, Paris Writing Workshop, Paris, France.
Visiting Faculty December, 2012, June, 2014, University of California, Palm Desert
Guest Artist and Faculty, July, 2012, Centrum Writers’ Conference, Port Townsend, Washington.
Instructor, Union Station Homeless Services Centennial Place 2011, Memoir Writing, Poets and
Writers Grant.
Mentor, 2010, The Loft Literary Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Core Faculty, 2008 to present, Bennington Writing Seminars, Bennington, Vermont.
Steering Committee, 2012 to present.
Core Faculty, 2008 to 2013, Rainier Writing Workshop, Tacoma, Washington.
Part-time Lecturer, 2008-2009, Master of Professional Writing Program, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California.
Visiting Lecturer, October 2008, Scripps College, Memoir Lecture and Reading.
Mentor, January, 2008 to August, 2008. PEN USA Emerging Voices Program.
Associate Faculty, June 2007, Bennington Writing Seminars, Bennington, Vermont.
Visiting Lecturer, 2007, UCLA, Los Angeles, California. Intro to Memoir: Fining Your Own True voice.
Instructor, February – April, 2007, WITS program (Writing in the Schools), Palm Desert High School, Palm Desert, California.
PANELS AND APPEARANCES
Los Vegas Book Festival October, 2014, Essay Panel, with Leslie Jamison, Los Vegas, Nevada.
Public Reading August, 2014, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Washington.
Public Reading July, 2014, Paris Writing Workshop, Paris, France.
Public Reading June, 2014, Bennington Writing Seminars, Bennington, Vermont.
ALOUD at the Los Angeles Public Library, May, 2014, “The Art of the Sentence”Panelist with Jim Krusoe, Mathias Veigener,
and Anne Germanacos
Public Reading April, 2014, Stonybrook MFA Program, Sag Harbor, New York.
L.A. Times Festival of BooksApril, 2014,
“The Art of the Personal Story” Panelist, with Meghan Daum, Leo Braudy, Leslie
Jamison, and Pico Iyer.
“What Shapes Us” Moderator, with Geoff Nicholson, Louise Steinman, and Erika
Hayasaki
University of Southern CaliforniaApril, 2014, “Whose Life is it Anyway?” with Louise Steinman,
Leo Braudy, and Molly Pulda
Associated Writing Programs Conference, Seattle, February 2014,
“Writing Rules I Break” Panelist with moderators Lou Ann Walker and Susan Sharp Merrell
“The Naked I” Panelist with moderator Barrie Jean Borich
Master of Professional Writing Program: University of Southern California
November, 2013,The Literary Essay, Obsessions and Influences, with Amy
Wilentz, Gustavo Arellano, David Ulin
Western Edge Playwrights Salon October, 2013 with Luis Alfaro, Paula Cizmar, Prince Gomovilas
The Beverly Hills Literary Escape October, 2013, with Tobias Wolff, Dani Shapiro,
Marisa Silver, Nina Revoyr.
Visions and Voices, USC October, 2013 Conversation with Tony Kushner
West Hollywood Book Fair, September, 2013 Memoir: Secret Lives
Rainier Writing Workshop, August, 2013, reading with David Ulin.
Panel on Funny, with Stephen Corey, Scott Nadelson, Sherry Simpson.
Bennington College, June, 2013, reading with Paul Yoon
Lecture: Rants, Raves, Reflections: Pushing Back Against Art
Los Angeles Times Festival of Books Los Angeles, 2013
Why Did the Writer Cross the Genre?
Memoir: Unearthing the Roots
Associated Writing Programs Conference, Boston, 2013, Panel and Reading for the
publication of Becoming, with editor Jill McCabe Johnson.
Associated Writing Programs Conference, Boston, 2013, Why Genre Matters, Moderato
with Sven Birkerts, Judith Kitchen, David Biespiel, Scott Nadelson.
University of Southern California March, 2012, Visions and Voices, “Visionary Women,”
Moderator with Angella Nazarian, Karen Karbo and Paula Cizmar.
Master of Professional Writing Program: University of Southern California October, 2012, Writing the Literary Essay, Moderator
with Tom Bissell, Lynell George, David Ulin.
Panels in conversation with Jon Robin Baitz; Emma Forrest; Emilie Beck; Patricia
Hampl.
West Hollywood Book Fair September, 2012, Writing the Memoir, Moderator with Jerry
Stahl, James Brown, Bernard Cooper, Luis Rodriguez.
Pacific Lutheran University August, 2012, Pushing Back Against Art, Lecture with Fleda
Brown.
Why Genre Matters?Moderator with Scott Nadelson, Sherry Simpson, Mary Blew.
Bennington College June, 2012, Reading with Lynne Sharon Schwartz
Pen On Fire May, 2012, Writing the Memoir with James Brown, Clair Bidwell Smith,
moderator: Barbara De Marco-Barrett
TEDxUSCMay, 2012, “Faith and the Writer: When Life Meets Art”
Los Angeles Times Festival of Books April, 2012, Kick Ass Women, Moderator, with
M.G. Lord, Karen Karbo, Allison Engel
Los Angeles Times Festival of Books April, 2012, Memoir: Over the Edge, panelist,
with Cheryl Strayed, Charles Shaw, Emma Forrest, Amy Wallen.
California State University at Long Beach May, 2012, Writers’ Conference/Author
Reading.
Writing the Memoir March, 2012, University of Southern California, with Bernard
Cooper, M.G. Lord, and Sandra Tsing Loh.
New American Writing at the Hammer September 2011 Reading.
Pacific Lutheran University August, 2011 Reading with Kent Meyers.
The Writing Life with David Biespiel.
Bennington College June, 2011, Reading with Sheila Kohler.
PEN USA Emerging Voices, May, 2010, 2011, 2012, Author Evenings
Diesel BooksSpring, 2011, Writing Family with Hope Edelman and Jennifer Lauck.
Los Angeles Times Book Festival April, 2011 Memoir: Living in a Shadow, Moderator,
with Alexandra Styron, Jill Bialosky, Linda Gray Sexton, Meghan O’Rourke.
Los Angeles Times Book Festival April, 2011 Memoir and Disability, with Mark Richard
and Tim Page.
Associated Writing Programs Conference February, 2011 What the Narrator Doesn’t
Know,Panelist, with David Huddle, Lia Purpura, Lee Martin, Jill Johnson.
Faith and the Writer, Moderator, with David Biespiel, M.G. Lord, Brenda Miller,
Askold Melnychuk.
Faith and the Writer November, 2010, University of Southern California, with Eric Lax,
Mark Salzman, Heather King, and Justin Wood.
Pacific Lutheran University August, 2010, Writers and their Editors with Stephen Corey
and Judith Kitchen.
Reading with David Huddle.
Bennington College June, 2010, Reading with Lynne Sharon Schwartz.
Holy Family Church Spring, 2010, In conversation with Father Gregory Boyle.
Zocalo Reading Series Fall, 2010, in conversation with Meghan Daum.
Los Angeles Times Book Festival April, 2010 Memoir: Crafting the Personal Story,
Associated Writing Programs Conference February, 2010, Moderator, Criticism for Its
Own Sake, Sven Birkerts, Amy Gerstler, William Giraldi, Dana Goodyear.
USC Reading Series November, 2009, Moderator, Critics Talk, Jonathan Gold, David Ulin, Evelyn McDonnell, Kenneth Turan.
ALOUD series at the Central Los Angeles Public LibraryModerator, September, 2008,
Lisa See and Nina Revoyr in Conversation.
West Hollywood Book Fair, September, 2008, Moderator,Memoir: From Stage to Page,
Moderator.
Sacramento Writers’ Conference, California State University, Sacramento, August, 2008,
Key Note Speaker.
Palm Springs Book Festival Panelist, May, 2008, Panelist, Real Life on the Page: Writing
the Biography.
Los Angeles Times Book Festival Panelist, April, 2008, , Memoir: Hopes and
Challenges,Val Zavala, Sara Davidson, Mike Farrell and Amy Silverstein.
Associated Writing Programs Conference, February, 2008, New York. Panelist, Don’t Go
There: The Power of Silence in Memoir, Bob Shachochis, Sven Birkerts, Susan
Cheever, Liesl Schwabe.
Santa Barbara Book Festival, September, 2007, Panelist, The Art of the Memoir. Diana
Raab, Phillip Deaver, James Brown, Louise Steinman.
West Hollywood Book FestivalSeptember, 2007, Panelist, Writing the Memoir,
Samantha Dunn, Emily Rapp, Aaron Raz.
Los Angeles Times Book FestivalApril, 2007, Panelist, True Crime: When It Happens to
You. Barry Siegel, Terri Jentz, Stanley Alpert.
Associated Writing Programs Conference,March, 2007, Atlanta. Moderator, Leading the
Double Life, with Phillip Lopate, Sven Birkerts, Ladette Randolph, Spencer Nadler,
Diana Wagman.
PUBLISHING
Senior Nonfiction Editor, Los Angeles Review of Book, October, 2013.
BOOKS
Brief Encounters Co-edited with Judith Kitchen, W.W. Norton, 2015
The Object Parade, Counterpoint Press, 2014.
Bigger than Life: A Murder, A Memoir, University of Nebraska Press, 2007.
Acting for Young Actors with Mary Lou Belli, Watson Guptill, 2006.
JOURNALS
Largehearted Boy
TriQuarterly
The Rumpus
The Nervous Breakdown
The Harvard Review
The Water~Stone Review
Los Angeles Review of Books
The Southampton Review
The Southampton Review,
Brevity Online,
Prime Number Online, 23.3
AGNI 75, 69
AGNI Online
Creative Nonfiction
The Mom Egg
Defunct Online
The Kenyon Review Online
The Coachella Review Online
Chaparral Online
ANTHOLOGIES
My First Novel, editor, Alan Watt
Rose Metal Press Guide to Flash Nonfiction, editor, Dinty Moore
Becoming: What Makes a Woman editor, Jill McCabe Johnson
American Lives, editor, Alicia Christensen, University of Nebraska Press, 2010
Get On The Bus, anthology and exhibition published by City/Space, 2006
Becoming, University of Nebraska Press, 2013
BLOG
The Gamut
The Vortex
JOURNALISM/CRITICISM
The Los Angeles Review of Books
Water~Stone Review
Washington Post
Ploughshares
Los Angeles Times
Lives Column, The New York Times, February, 2007.
Columnist 1994 – 1995. LA Parent Magazine.
AWARDS
Pushcart Special Mention, 2010
Finalist: New Letters 2004 Literary Awards Essay Competition.
Finalist: Bellingham Review’s Annie Dillard Award for Creative Nonfiction, 2004.
Reviews and Opinion pieces available on request.
JUDGE
Hippocampus Award for Creative Nonfiction, Hippocampus Review, 2014
Annie Dillard Award for Creative Nonfiction, Bellingham Review, 2013
Bazanalla Creative Writing Wards: California State University Sacramento 2010, 2012
Bellingham Review, Annie Dillard Prize for Nonfiction, 2012
OTHER
Private Acting Coach July, 1998 to 2010.
U.S. Performing Arts: Director/InstructorNDG Studios, New York City, summers 2007, 2008; University of Kentucky, Summer, 2008; Pepperdine University, summers 2006-2008.
Visiting Instructor/Adjunct Professor UCLA Summer Acting Program for Young Adults, 2003-2007.
Guest Artist October, 2006. Greenwich Academy, Greenwich, Connecticut; Pelham Memorial High School, Pelham, New York; Mamaroneck High School, Mamaroneck, New York; SAG Conservatory, New York, New York.
Guest Faculty/Theater Arts Kansas State University, Autumn, 2003.
The New York Public Library, Coordinator of Special Events, 1983 – 1985.
Professional Actor/ 1981 to the present. Resume available on request.
References furnished on request.