Robert Dean Johnson

• Professor & Director of Bluegrass Writers Studio Low-Res MFA
• M.F.A. Creative Writing, Arizona State University, 2003
• M.A. English, Kansas State University, 1997
• B.S. Business Administration, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, 1991

Bio

Contact Information

• Department: English
• Office: Mattox 302
• Mailing Address: Mattox 104
• Email: r-dean.johnson@eku.edu
• Phone: 859-622-6263
• Web Page: Robert Dean Johnson's website
• Expert Areas: Creative Nonfiction; Fiction; Implied Author; Literature of Baseball; Onomastics

Bio

I’ve been teaching at EKU since 2008, back when our Low-Res MFA in Creative Writing program was new, even before we’d named it Bluegrass Writers Studio. I primarily teach creative writing, from our undergraduate intro courses (ENG 306) all the way to our graduate level workshops (ENW 820) and have been director of Bluegrass Writers Studio since 2016. 

My essays and stories have been nominated for a few Pushcart Prizes and appeared in Ascent, Baltimore Review, Cimarron Review, Louisville Review, New Orleans Review, Ruminate, Salt Hill, Slice, The Southern Review, and elsewhere, usually with the word “Review” in the title. I am the author of a story collection, Delicate Men (Alternative Book Press, 2014), a creative nonfiction chapbook, Something L.A. (Blue Cubicle, 2015), and a novel, Californium (Plume-Penguin, 2016). 

I’ve recently completed a collection of essays, Poser: A Mostly-True Memoir, and am now at work on a novel with the working title, Ignoreland. 

My favorite courses to teach have been (still are) ENG 210 Enjoying Literature: The Literature of Baseball, ENG 306 Intro to Creative Writing, ENG 409 Advanced Creative Nonfiction, ENW 810 Writers on Writing, ENW 810 Forms of the Novel, and ENW 820 Prose Workshop. You can learn more about my publications, author events, and projects at rdeanwriter.com.

Instagram and Twitter: @rdeanwriter

Courses