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headshot of Alexi Zentner

Alexi Zentner

Associate Professor, English and Creative Writing

English, General Literature and Rhetoric

Background

Alexi Zentner's novels have been published in sixteen countries and more than a dozen languages. He is the author of the novel, Copperhead, forthcoming from Viking Penguin in 2019. He is also the author of the internationally acclaimed novels, The Lobster Kings, and Touch. Under the pseudonym Ezekiel Boone, Alexi is the author of the internationally bestselling The Hatching series (The Hatching, Skitter, and Zero Day) as well as the forthcoming novel, The Mansion. Alexi's novels have been shortlisted for The Governor General’s Literary Award, The Center for Fiction’s Flahery-Dunnan First Novel Prize, the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, the Amazon.ca First Novel Award, and the Ontario Library Association Forest of Reading Evergreen Award for Adult Fiction, and longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Dublin International Literary Award (twice), and the Maine Library Readers’ Choice Award. Alexi's short fiction has appeared in The Atlantic, Tin House, Glimmer Train, The Southern Review, Guernica, PEN America, and many other publications, and has won the O. Henry Prize and the Narrative Prize, and has been shortlisted for the Best American Short Stories and the Pushcart Prize.

Education

  • MFA, Cornell University
  • BA, Grinnell College

Research Interests

  • Fiction

Teaching Interests

  • Fiction

Awards

  • Touch shortlisted for the Amazon.ca First Novel Award, the 2011 Governor General's Literary Award, The Center for Fiction's 2011 Flahery-Dunnan First Novel Prize, and the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award.
  • Longlisted for the 2011 Scotiabank Giller Prize and the 2013 Dublin IMPAC Award.
  • Named to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (The CBC) list of 12 Canadian Writers to Watch: “The future of this country's literature.”
  • Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection 2011
  • Knopf Canada New Face of Fiction selection 2011
  • Best American Short Stories 2009 “100 Other Distinguished Stories”
  • The O. Henry Prize Stories 2008 Winner and Jury Favorite
  • 2008 Pushcart Prize Special Mention for two short stories
  • 2008 Narrative Prize for Best Short Story by an Emerging Writer

Research Profile