Grant Faulkner

Grant Faulkner is the former executive director of National Novel Writing Month, taking over for Chris Baty. Grant took over the post on January 9, 2012 . He has participated in NaNoWriMo since 2010. He was replaced by interim executive director Kilby Blades in February 2024. 
== Biography ==
Grant Faulkner was born and raised in Oskaloosa, Iowa. He earned a B.A. in English from Grinnell College and an M.A. in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. http://www.sfsu.edu/~sfsumag/archive/spring_13/one_month_50000_words.html He lives in Berkeley, California, with his wife, writer Heather Mackey, and their two children. http://www.grinnell.edu/sites/default/files/documents/GrinMagFall13.web_.pdf#page=33
== Career ==
In 2011, Faulkner and Lynn Mundell co-founded 100 Word Story, an online literary journal that publishes stories that are exactly 100 words long. http://www.thereviewreview.net/interviews/flash-fiction Stories published in 100 Word Story has been included on Wigleaf’s Top (Very) Short Fictions list http://wigleaf.com/2015top503.htm and anthologized in the annual Best Small Fictions series and W.W Norton's New Micro: Exceptionally Short Fiction. http://queensferrypress.com/blog/tag/the-best-small-fictions/
In 2012, he became Executive Director of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), taking over from founder Chris Baty. http://blog.nanowrimo.org/post/16535099276/an-interview-with-grant-faulkner-olls-new With more than 500,000 writers signing up to take part in NaNoWriMo’s programs annually, it’s the largest writing event in the world.
In 2014, Faulkner co-founded the Flash Fiction Collective, a reading series in San Francisco, with writers Jane Ciabattari and Meg Pokrass.
In 2018, Faulkner launched the podcast "Write-minded: Weekly Inspiration for Writers" with co-host Brooke Warner of SheWrites.com.
Grant took over the post on January 9, 2012. http://blog.lettersandlight.org/post/16535099276. He has participated in NaNoWriMo since 2010. 
Before joining the NaNoWriMo staff, he served as a Board of Directors member in 2011 and managed online communications at the National Writing Project, another Bay Area writing non-profit.
Outside of NaNoWriMo, Grant is also the founder and editor of 100 Word Story, a literary journal featuring short stories and flash fiction. http://www.100wordstory.org He also wrote Pep Talks for Writers: 52 Insights and Prompts to Boost Your Creative Mojo, published October 2017.
He plans to master tap dancing one day and invited Night of Writing Dangerously attendees to dance with him on stage during the 2014 event.
=== Literary work ===
Faulkner’s stories and essays have appeared in dozens of publications, including The New York Times, Poets & Writers, Writer’s Digest, The Southwest Review, The Gettysburg Review, Five Points, Green Mountains Review, and Puerto del Sol. His stories have also been anthologized in W.W. Norton’s New Micro: Especially Short Fiction and Best Small Fictions 2016.
In 2015, Faulkner released Fissures, a collection of one hundred 100-word stories, published by Press 53.
One reviewer wrote, “In Grant Faulkner’s collection of very short fiction, Fissures [One Hundred 100-Word Stories], Faulkner manages to elevate his language, presenting each word here with the rhetorical weight of a novel and with a poetic aptitude that is anything but self-indulgent. Faulkner has, instead, carefully crafted these stories, and each word comes at the reader as high currency.” http://atticusreview.org/microfiction-at-work-a-review-of-fissures-by-grant-faulkner/
The 100-word story form is often likened to prose poetry, http://writersrelief.com/blog/2013/07/prose-poetry-short-prose-flash-fiction/ which is one thing that drew Faulkner to the form. “I’ve always liked forms that blur,” he said. “To say that a piece of writing is a prose poem versus a story is just a matter of an author’s intention, an author’s definition.” http://blog.superstitionreview.asu.edu/2015/06/06/an-interview-with-grant-faulkner/ In 2018, he co-edited a collection of the best stories published in 100 Word Story, Nothing Short of 100: Selected Tales from 100 Word Story with Lynn Mundell and Beret Olsen.
Faulkner is also known for his writings on the creative process. In 2017, Faulkner published Pep Talks for Writers: 52 Insights and Actions to Boost Your Creative Mojo. In 2019, he co-authored Brave the Page, a teen writing guide.
Faulkner regularly presents at conferences, including the Frankfurt Book Fair, Book Expo America, the Bay Area Book Festival, the Oakland Book Festival, Litquake, the Writer’s Digest Conference, and the San Francisco Writers Conference, among others. http://www.grantfaulkner.com/bio/
== List of works ==
=== Books ===
* Brave the Page: A Young Writers Guide to Telling Epic Stories
* Nothing Short of 100: Selected Tales from 100 Word Story
* Pep Talks for Writers: 52 Insights and Actions to Boost Your Creative Mojo
* Fissures
=== Selected short stories ===
* Charms http://fictionsoutheast.org/charms-by-grant-faulkner - Fiction Southeast
* First Time http://newflashfiction.com/grant-faulkner - New Flash Fiction Review
* Us http://www.decompmagazine.com/us.htm - decomP
* Six Stories About Gerard and Celeste https://web.archive.org/web/20150707222118/http://www.paragraph.com/grant-faulkner-gerard-and-celeste - Paragraph Magazine
* Bright Mess https://superstitionreview.asu.edu/issue13/fiction/grantfaulkner - Superstition Review
* Bodies at Risk in Motion http://greenmountainsreview.com/?attachment_id=393 - Green Mountains Review
* Castings http://www.counterexamplepoetics.com/2013/08/august-26-2013-castings-by-grant.html - Counterexample Poetics
* Dear X http://flashfloodjournal.blogspot.com/2013/06/dear-x-by-grant-faulkner.html - Flash Flood
* Filter http://www.cortlandreview.com/issue/59/faulkner_f.php - The Cortland Review
* The Filmmaker: Eight Takes http://www.eclectica.org/v17n2/faulkner.html - Eclectica
* Model Upside Down on the Stairs http://www.pankmagazine.com/model-upside-down-on-the-stairs - PANK
* Life Knowledge http://www.around-around.com/life-knowledge/ - Revolver
* The Names of All Things http://www.smu.edu/southwestreview - The Southwest Review
=== Essays ===
* Imagination Under Pressure https://www.pw.org/content/januaryfebruary_2018 – Poets & Writers
* The Art of Seduction: How to Entice and Captivate Your Readers https://www.writersdigest.com/writing-articles/by-writing-goal/improve-my-writing/art-of-seduction-entice-captivate-readers – Writer’s Digest
* One Hundred Reasons Why I Write https://writenow.nwp.org/one-hundred-reasons-why-i-write-a2811e7ce2f9 - National Writing Project
* Naked (On the Page) and Afraid http://www.writersdigestshop.com/writers-digest-july-august-2015 - Writer’s Digest
* Writing Flash Fiction: Telling a Story with What’s Left Out http://www.writersdigestshop.com/writers-digest-may-june-2015-download?source=igodigita - Writer’s Digest
* More Ideas Faster: Writing With Abandon http://www.pw.org/content/more_ideas_faster_writing_with_abando - Poets & Writers
* Going Long. Going Short. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/30/going-long-going-short/?_r=0 - New York Times Draft Blog
* What Makes NaNoWriMo Work: Breaking Down the Mythology of the Solitary Writer http://www.writersdigestshop.com/writers-digest-november-december-2014-grouped?lid-wdjsnorules10141 - Writer’s Digest
=== Selected interviews ===
* Shards and Gems: An Interview With Guest Reader Grant Faulkner http://www.smokelong.com/shards-and-gems-an-interview-with-guest-reader-grant-faulkner/ - Smokelong Quarterly
* The Writer's Digest Podcast, Episode 8: Interview with NaNoWriMo Executive Director Grant Faulkner https://www.writersdigest.com/podcasts/writers-digest-podcast/the-writers-digest-podcast-nanowrimo-grant-faulkner - Writer's Digest
* A Flash Fiction Roundtable: Short but Never Small https://themillions.com/2018/05/a-flash-roundtable-short-but-never-small.html - Millions
* ''An Interview with Grant Faulkner http://blog.superstitionreview.asu.edu/2015/06/06/an-interview-with-grant-faulkner - Superstition Review
* An Interview with Grant Faulkner, author of Fissures http://fictionsoutheast.org/an-interview-with-grant-faulkner-author-of-fissures - Fiction Southeast
* The Write Stuff: Grant Faulkner on Watching Objects Rust and the Slow Reveal http://www.sfweekly.com/exhibitionist/2015/04/30/the-write-stuff-grant-faulkner-on-watching-objects-rust-and-the-slow-revea - SF Weekly’s Litseen
* How could creative expression not change the world? Interview with Grant Faulkner https://web.archive.org/web/20160309154924/http://artismoving.org/2015/04/how-could-creative-expression-not-change-the-world-interview-with-grant-faulkner/ - Art Is Moving
* Grant Faulkner: A Modern Day Pioneer Inspiring Creativity Through Writing http://www.levistrauss.com/unzipped-blog/2014/11/grant-faulkner-a-modern-day-pioneer-inspiring-creativity-through-writing – Unzpipped
* An Interview with NaNoWriMo’s New Executive Director http://blog.nanowrimo.org/post/16535099276/an-interview-with-grant-faulkner-olls-new – NaNoWriMo blog
== References ==
== External links ==
* Official Website
* Grant Faulkner's NaNoWriMo Profile
* Grant Faulkner on Twitter
* National Novel Writing Month
* 100 Word Story
* Flash Fiction Collective
* Grant Faulkner's Wikipedia page
Category:OLL staff