Vivian Wagner

I grew up in the mountains of California and attended the University of California, Irvine, where I got my B.A. in English in 1989. That June, I loaded up my Mustang with books and a Mac and drove to Ohio to start graduate school at The Ohio State University, where I got my M.A. in English in 1991. In 1996, I received my Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, specializing in American literature and popular culture. Currently, I'm an associate professor of English at Muskingum University in New Concord, Ohio.

My work has appeared in The Atlantic, Narratively, O: The Oprah Magazine, Creative Nonfiction, Entrepreneur, Fast Company, Alaska Magazine, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, KROnline, Zone 3, The Ilanot Review, Silk Road Review, Easy Street Magazine, The Pinch, and other publications. One of my pieces, "Under the Gun," was listed as a notable essay in The Best American Essays 2007. I'm the author of a memoir, Fiddle: One Woman, Four Strings, and 8,000 Miles of Music (Citadel-Kensington), and a poetry collection, The Village (Kelsay Books).