Photo of Jessica L. Anthony

Jessica L. Anthony

Lecturer in English

Associations

English

Hathorn Hall, Room 300

207-786-6314 janthony@bates.edu

About

Jessica Anthony is the author of four books of fiction, most recently the novel THE MOST (Little, Brown & Co.), longlisted for the National Book Award in Fiction, and a finalist for the Prix Fitzgerald. Her novel ENTER THE AARDVARK (Little, Brown & Co.) was a finalist for the New England Book Award in Fiction. Anthony’s novels have been published in over a dozen countries, and are featured in Time, Newsweek, Esquire, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The New York Times Book Review as an Editors’ Choice. Anthony served as the 41st Bridge Guard in Literature, in Štúrovo, Slovakia. She has received literary fellowships from the Maine Arts Commission, the Millay Colony, Ucross, MacDowell, the Bogliasco Foundation, and recently spent a month in residence at the Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington. Anthony won the inaugural Amanda Davis Highwire Fiction Award from McSweeney’s, and she is a recipient of the Creative Capital Award for Literature. Her story “The Death of Mustango Salvaje,” originally published by McSweeney’s, is currently in development with A24 for a limited TV series, filmed in Spain.

Current Courses

Fall Semester 2025

Creative Nonfiction Writing

ENG 293

A creative nonfiction writer tells a true story in an inventive and original manner. Or as John McPhee says, "Creative nonfiction is not making something up but making the most of what you have." In this course students write four creative nonfiction essays in the following genres: memoir, lyric, tr…

Advanced Fiction Writing

ENG 391

Prerequisite(s): English 291.

Senior Thesis

ENG 457

Students register for ENG 457 in the fall semester. Majors writing an honors thesis register for both ENG 457 and 458.

Shaking It Out: Writing and Critiquing Personal Narratives

FYS 442

To "essay" means "to attempt; to try." This course offers students rigorous study and practice of the art of the creative nonfiction essay, looking specifically at the ways writers use creative impulses to write better textual critiques, and vice versa. Readings include classics from writers such as…