I am a retired Comparative Literature Professor from the University of California, Riverside campus. For years I wrote scholarship and taught world literature; I thrilled at getting students excited about The Iliad and Don Quixote.

 

But I always dreamed of being a published creative writer myself, so at the age of 55, I went back to school and got my MFA. Studying magical realism with Aimee Bender and Kathleen Alcalá reawakened my love for fairy tales, and I’ve been interested in using the unreal in writing ever since. Since that time I’ve published 3 novels, a novelette, 3 collections of poetry and a How to Write Magical Realism handbook. I have lived on the West Coast most of my life, and love crazy California, which I’ve moved to three times. I’ve lived in Geneva Switzerland, Montpellier France, and Coupeville Washington, as well as New York City. I’ve spent significant amounts of time in both East Germany and The People’s Republic of China as a visiting student and teacher.

 

In my writing I bring my erudition into play and translate it so that you – the reader – can enjoy all those ideas within accessible and fun works of fiction and poetry.

 

Enjoy! 

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Stephanie Barbé Hammer