The University of St. Thomas

Lon Otto

Otto, Lon

Professor of English

L9otto@stthomas.edu
Phone: (651) 962-5609

Office Location: JRC 354

Academic History

Ph.D., Indiana University 
Dissertation: Medieval Prosody and Four Modern Poets: a study of the strong-stress tradition in modern prosody through poems and writings of Gerard Manley Hopkins, Thomas Hardy, Ezra Pound, and W.H. Auden.   
B.A., Pomona College
A.A., Concordia College  
At St. Thomas since 1974.

Teaching Expertise/Specialties/Interests

Fiction Writing, introductory to post graduate
Poetry and Literary Nonfiction Writing
Literary Magazine History, Editing, and Design, including Desktop Publishing
Literary Travel Writing
Novel since World War II
William Faulkner
Latin American Fiction
Ancient Maya Culture of the Northern Yucatan

Selected Publications

Books: 
Cover Me, collection of short stories, Coffee House Press, 1988.
Water Bodies, limited edition chapbook, Coffee House Press, 1986.
A Nest of Hooks, collection of short stories, University of Iowa Press, 1978.

Short fiction in literary magazines including Prairie Schooner, Great River Review, Colorado Review, Water-Stone, Atlantic Review, Gallimaufry, Luna Tack, Odd Fodder, Vinyl, Indiana Review, and the anthologies Flash Fiction Forward (Norton), Flash Fictions (Norton), American Fiction, Best Words, Best Order (St. Martins), The North Country Reader, Stiller's Pond, As Far As Eye Can See, The Iowa Award: The Best Stories from Twenty Years, The Runner's Literary Companion (Penguin), and Blink. Stories broadcast on Selected Shorts, National Public Radio.

Poetry in Bitterroot, Poetry Claremont, Stoney Lonesome, Mundus Artium, Michigan Quarterly Review, Vanilla Press, North Country.

Essay in Townships, an anthology, University of Iowa Press.

Links to stories:


"What is Son?"

"The Urban Forest"

Selected Presentations

Panel presentations at Associated Writing Programs Conference in 1996, 1997, and 1998. Craft talks at the University of Iowa, 1998-2006.

Awards & Honors

Glenna Luschei Fiction Award, Prairie Schooner, 2006.
Professor of the Year Award, University of St. Thomas, 2003.
American Fiction award, 1995 (Tim O'Brien, judge).
Loft-McKnight Award of Distinction for Fiction, 1991 (Peter Meinke, final judge).
Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses, 1980.
Iowa School of Letters Award for Short Fiction, 1978 (Stanley Elkin, final judge).
Phi Beta Kappa; B.A. summa cum laude, Pomona College, 1970

Other Professional Activities

1997-2006 taught in the University of Iowa Summer Writing Festival: courses in novel techniques, revising fiction, and literary travel writing. Conducted fiction and poetry writing workshops for a number of other organizations, including Gustavus Adolphus College, Macalester College, Southwest State University, The College of St. Catherine, The Loft, University of Minnesota, Walker Art Center, St. Cloud State University, University of Wisconsin, Wartburg College, University of North Dakota, and University of Nebraska; writer's residencies at University of Michigan, Northwest Missouri State University, and Creighton University.