Michael Dahlie
Photo by Ellen W. Morton
Bio
Michael Dahlie has published two novels with W.W. Norton and his short fiction has appeared in numerous venues, including Harper’s, Ploughshares, the Kenyon Review, and Tin House. His literary honors include the PEN/Hemingway Award, a residency at the Ucross Foundation, and a Whiting Award. Dahlie is an associate professor at Butler University where he teaches in the English Department and the MFA Program.
It’s a huge honor to receive a fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts and I feel exceptionally lucky that my current work managed to find this kind of validation and encouragement. Since I’m now working on an illustrated novel, I routinely find myself addressing narrative problems that I’ve never faced before, and I’ve really been feeling like I’m out on a limb with this project. Just the eye strain and hand cramps from the crosshatching have been unusual challenges, and these come on top of the normal cognitive and emotional distress that writing often brings. The illustrations have also been very time consuming, and this seems to be where the NEA’s backing is most valuable—I can finally afford to ease up on other work and focus entirely on my book. The NEA is an absolutely essential institution for artists and writers, and I’m extremely grateful for their support.