Kali Fajardo-Anstine named Endowed Chair in Creative Writing at Texas State

Award-winning author Kali Fajardo-Anstine has been named the Texas State University Endowed Chair in Creative Writing for 2022-2023.

Fajardo-Anstine is the author of the widely acclaimed story collection Sabrina & Corina (One World, 2019), which won an American Book Award, the 2020 Reading the West Award and the 2020 Fred R. Brown Literary Award. It was a finalist for the National Book Award, the PEN/Bingham Prize, Story Prize, Saroyan International Prize and the Clark Fiction Prize. Sabrina & Corina was also named as one of the best books of the year by the American Library Association and the New York Public Library.

Fajardo-Anstine is also the 2021 recipient of the biennial Addison M. Metcalf Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her first novel, Woman of Light, will be published in June 2022, also by One World. 

Fajardo-Anstine holds an M.F.A. in fiction from the University of Wyoming-Laramie and a B.A. in English with a minor in Chicana/o studies from Metropolitan State University of Denver. She has taught at the University of Wyoming, San Diego State University, Fort Lewis College (Durango, Colorado) and in many workshop settings with prestigious organizations such as Tin House, Catapult, Kweli International Literary Festival and Gemini Ink.

Her writing has been published in The New York Times, Harper’s Bazaar, ELLE, O the Oprah Magazine, American Scholar, GAY Magazine, Boston Review and elsewhere. 

Each year, the University Endowed Chair in Creative Writing teaches one graduate MFA workshop. The chair holder also visits classes and gives two readings.

National Book Award Winner Tim O'Brien held the chair every other year from 1999 through 2012. Previous chair holders include the poet Ai, Barry Hannah, Denis Johnson, Robert Stone, Cristina Garcia, Ben Fountain, Karen Russell and Téa Obreht.