portrait

Ivelisse Rodriguez

Assistant Professor of English and Mary Rogers Field and Marion Field McKenna Distinguished Professor in Creative Writing

ivelisserodriguez@depauw.edu
(765) 658-4685

Educational Background

  • PhD in English and Creative Writing, University of Illinois at Chicago
  • MFA in creative writing, Emerson College
  • BA in English, Columbia University

Teaching Interests

  • Introduction to Creative Writing
  • Fiction Workshop
  • Latinx Literature
  • Topics in Fiction

Research, Scholarly, Creative Work

Publications

  • Love War Stories, The Feminist Press, July 2018
  • The Belindas, Tammy, 2017
  • “Summer of Nene.” 10th Anniversary Issue Part II, Fiction & Interviews: An Aster(ix) Anthology, edited by Angie Cruz, Blue Sketch Press, 2023.
  • excerpt Before We Became a New People. Daughters of Latin America: An International Anthology of Writing by Latine Women, edited by Sandra Guzman, HarperCollins, 2023, pp. 317
  • excerpt Before We Became a New People. A Night of Scream: Latino Horror Stories, edited by Richard Z. Santos, Arte Público Press, 2023, pp. 200-04.
  • “White, Other, Black.” A Measure of Belonging: Twenty-One Writers of Color on the New American South, edited by Cinelle Barnes, Hub City, 2020.
  • “Summer of Nene.” Puñado, no. 6-A, Spring 2019. (Translated into Portuguese).
  • The Last Salsa Singer, novel excerpt. Label Me Latina/o, vol. 7, Summer 2017, labelmelatin.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Ivelisse-Rodriguez-The-Last-Salsa-Singer-novel-excerpt.pdf.
  • The Last Salsa Singer, novel excerpt. Obsidian: Literature & Arts in the African Diaspora, vol. 43, no. 1, Spring 2017.
  • “A Different Story.” All about Skin: Short Fiction by Women of Color. Eds. Ortiz, Jina and Rochelle Spencer. University of Wisconsin, 2014.
  • “Summer of Nene.” Aster(ix), Apr. 2014, asterixjournal.com.
  • “The Simple Truth.” Bilingual Review, vol. 33, no. 1, 2012-2013, pp. 86-94.
  • “A Different Story.” Quercus Review, vol. 10, 2010, pp. 146-59.
  • “The Light in the Sky.” Ragazine, May/June 2010, ragazine.cc/2010/04/ivelisse-rodriguez.
  • “La Hija de Chango.” Kweli, Dec. 2009, www.kwelijournal.org.
  • “Esperandote.” Vandal, vol. 1, no.1, 2009, pp. 49-54.
  • “Holyoke, Mass: An Ethnography.” Boston Review, vol. 32, no. 1, 2007, pp. 39-41.
  • “Summer of Nene.” Boston Review, vol. 30, no. 5, 2005, pp. 53-4.

Editor

  • Pavlíc, Ed and Ivelisse Rodriguez, editors. Speculation. Boston Review, 2023.
  • Guest editor, Kweli, special issue on our shared African ancestry and Latinx literature, March 2022.
  • Guest editor, Aster(ix), special issue on “What We Love,” December 2021.
  • Co-editor, Pleiades, special folio on Afro-Caribbean literature, summer 2019.

Professional Experience

  • University of Texas–Rio Grande Valley
  • University of Arizona
  • University of Missouri–St. Louis
  • Borough of Manhattan Community College (CUNY)
  • U.S. Coast Guard Academy
  • Tin House
  • The Writer’s Center

Awards and Honors

  • Fellow, Letras Boricua/Mellon Foundation, December 2022
  • Award winner, Tanne Foundation, 2021
  • Love War Stories, Finalist, 2019 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction
  • Love War Stories, Finalist, 2018 Foreword Reviews INDIES, Multicultural category

Service and Leadership

  • Board Member, Adobe Press
  • Contributing Arts Editor, Boston Review
  • Grant Reader, National Endowment of the Arts
  • Fiction Editor, Kweli

Selected Media

  • “Ivelisse Rodriguez.” Imaginative Possibilities: Conversations with 21st Century Latinx Authors, edited by Javier O. Huerta and Maceo Montoya, University of Pittsburgh Press, 2024, pp. 274-291.
  • 11 Afro-Latino Writers to Add to Your Reading List Today - Hispanic Executive
  • Meet the 2022 Letras Boricuas Fellows | Mellon Foundation
  • How to Avoid Clichéd Characters in Your Writing | The Writer
  • The best Latino books, according to Latinx writers, NBC News
  • 10 Afro-Latina Writers You Should Read Right Now - Electric Literature
  • 10 Indispensable Black, Queer, and Feminist Coming-of-Age Stories, Publisher’s Weekly
  • 25 Best Books by Hispanic Authors - New Latinx Books to Read, Women’s Health
  • The Tanne Foundation - Awards - Ivelisse Rodriguez
  • What’s The Opposite of a Love Story? - Electric Literature
  • 16 Books by Caribbean Authors to Read - Caribbean Reading List, O Magazine
  • 10 Afro-Latina Writers Whose Work You Need to Read - HipLatina
  • Hablemos Escritoras · Perfil de Escritora: Ivelisse Rodríguez
  • Love War Stories by Ivelisse Rodriguez | The PEN/Faulkner Foundation
  • 71 Best New Books of 2018 - What to Read Next, Cosmopolitan
  • What to Read When You Want Short Stories - The Rumpus
  • 8 Authors Bringing Afro-Latina Stories to the Forefront, Remezcla
  • The 17 Best Fiction Books Coming Out In July 2018, Bustle