Jeff Parker (writer)

Jeff Parker (born January 3, 1974) is an American novelist and short story writer. His novel Ovenman was published in 2007 by the book division of the literary journal Tin House. Parker received praise from within the literary community for his hypertext story A Long Wild Smile which has appeared in numerous online journals.

Parker grew up in Tallahassee, Florida, and received a B.S. in Journalism from the University of Florida. He attended the prestigious creative writing program at Syracuse University where he studied with such writers as George Saunders and Arthur Flowers. During his time in Syracuse he lived briefly with the poet Kevin Keck who later dedicated his first collection of stories to him. Parker graduated with an M.F.A. in creative writing in 1999. He previously served as a faculty member at the University of Toronto, lectured in Russian State University for the Humanities and ELE public forum in Moscow, and served as the Director of the Creative Writing M.F.A. at the University of Tampa. He is currently a member of University of Massachusetts Amherst's M.F.A. faculty and Director of Disquiet International Literary Program.