Meet One of Our Knight Authors: Vanessa Blakeslee ’05MA
The Book Nook at UCF Knight Market this year will showcase 12 alumni authors. Leading up to the event, we will be spotlighting our Book Nook authors!
Meet Vanessa Blakeslee ’05MA!
Tell us a little about yourself!
I’m the author of three books of literary fiction, as well as many other essays, stories, and poems. My latest book, Perfect Conditions: stories (Curbside Splendor) won the Foreword Reviews’ 2018 INDIEFAB Book of the Year Award for the Short Story (Gold), and several other notable awards. My writing has appeared in The Southern Review, The Paris Review Daily, and Kenyon Review Online; I have new fiction and essays forthcoming in Pleiades, Swing, Split Lip, and others. I’ve earned many accolades for my writing, including the Individual Artist Fellowship in Literature from the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs, fellowships and residencies from Yaddo and many places. I teach creative writing at the University of Central Florida.
When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
From the time I was very young, about six years old, I was making up stories and illustrating them in my own “books.” I knew from an early age that literature would be a driving force in my life. Plus, I struggled terribly at math and science except for biology, so I knew I would never be cut out for a STEM-type field. I pursued my BA and MA in English, then an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts, and never looked back.
What’s your writing process? What inspires your writing?
I’m inspired a great deal by place and travel; I suppose I’m a kindred spirit of Hemingway in that sense, and I might have gone into journalism in another era. I research a great deal when I’m writing fiction, and I’m often pushing my students to do the same thing—otherwise, you’ll be restricted to a limited range of material if you’re just relying on your own experience from which to write. Imagination and research truly go hand-in-hand.
What was a class or club at UCF that helped you grow as a writer?
I earned my graduate degree in creative writing from UCF, and at the time, I had great mentorship throughout the program from professors Susan Hubbard, Ivonne Lamazares, Jeanne Leiby, and Pat Rushin.
Who are some of your favorite authors?
Oh my, so many—from the canon, Poe, Hemingway, Chekhov, O’Connor, Atwood, Butler. I read and study more classic literature than contemporary. I just think if you’re going to study, you might as well learn from the masters.
What else?! What are you currently working on right now?
I just finished serving as the Acadia National Park Writer-in-Residence for October 2024, which has been a delightful experience, and I look forward to the writing I’m going to contribute to the park in a year’s time, reflecting on that experience—probably some poetry or an essay, I’m not sure which. Otherwise, I’m working on new essays and fiction all the time, and I have nearly enough short stories for a new collection.
My Books:
Train Shots: stories, Juventud, a novel, and Perfect Conditions: stories
I sell personally signed copies of all three titles via my Etsy shop, so if you miss me at the Book Nook, you may order here – it’s easy.
