Jen Hirt, M.F.A.

Biography

Jen Hirt teaches courses in rhetoric, creative writing, and feature writing. She is also the faculty adviser to the literary arts magazine, From the Fallout Shelter. Prior to joining the Penn State Harrisburg faculty in 2007, she taught at Harrisburg Area Community College. She holds an M.F.A in creative writing (nonfiction) from the University of Idaho, an M.A. in English from Iowa State University, and a B.A. in English from Hiram College. Her writing has received grants and fellowships from the Ohioana Library, Bernheim Arboretum, and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. She grew up in Valley City, Ohio.

Professional Affiliations

• Associated Writing Programs
• Educational Testing Services

Research Interests

Jen Hirt is a creative writer who focuses primarily on modern essays and memoirs. Her memoir, Under Glass, won the 2011 Drake University Emerging Writer prize. It is about her family’s greenhouse business, and how illness and divorce changed the family and the greenhouses. Her essay, “Lores of Last Unicorns,” won a 2010 Pushcart Prize, and it is part of her second manuscript, a collection of essays that starts with Hirt’s stint as a writer-in-residence at Bernheim Arboretum in Kentucky and ends with oddball nature discoveries along the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania. Hirt is also researching trends in award-winning creative nonfiction essays from the 1970s to the present. She is a freelance writer for references series such as American Writers and Masterplots.

Courses Taught

• English 15: Rhetoric and Composition
• English 15s: Rhetoric and Composition with First Year Seminar
• English 30: Honors Rhetoric and Composition
• English 50: Introduction to Creative Writing
• English 202a: Writing in the Social Sciences
• English 215: Introduction to Article Writing (Creative Nonfiction)
• English 415: Advanced Nonfiction Writing
• English 493: American Nonfiction Literature
• Communications 525: Advanced Writer’s Seminar

Publications and Research

Memoir

• Under Glass: The Girl with a Thousand Christmas Trees. Akron, OH: Ringtaw Books/University of Akron Press, 2010.

Creative Nonfiction Essays

• “Steps.” Occupy Writers. Web. Fall 2011.
• “Lores of Last Unicorns.” The Pushcart Prize XXXV. Bill Henderson, ed. New York, Pushcart Press, 2010: 109-122.
• “Lores of Last Unicorns.” The Gettysburg Review. Vol. 22, no. 4, Winter 2009: 615-626.
• “Arrived to Find.” Natural Bridge. Vol. 20, Spring 2009: 71-85.
• “Laying Dynamite with the 9th Duke of Devonshire.” Redivider. Vol. 6, no. 2, Spring 2009: 94-101.
• “Ricinus Communis.” The King’s English. Web. Spring 2009.
• “Idaho Fell.” Sunday Salon. Web. Summer 2008.
• “Herculean in Nantucket White.” Rougarou. Web. Spring 2008.
• “Stronghold.” Flyway. Vol. 9.3/10.1, Spring/Fall 2005: 61-71.
• “The Grotto of Redemption.” The Briar Cliff Review. Vol. 17, Spring 2005: 68-73.
• “Cut.” Flyway. Vol. 8.3, Spring 2004. 43-54.
• “Best Offer.” Touchstone. Spring 2003: 82-94.
• “Under Glass.” The Ohioana Quarterly. Vol. XLVI, Issue #4. Winter 2003. 489-498. (reprinted )
• “Controlling the Light.” The Briar Cliff Review. Vol. 14, Spring 2002: 41-44.
• “Under Glass.” The Heartlands Today: A Life’s Work. Vol. 12: 58-67.

As Book Editor

• Mediums. (Opposing Viewpoints Series.) Detroit, Greenhaven Press, 2006.

Literature Articles

• “Michelle Cliff.” American Writers XXII. Jay Parini, ed. New York, Gale Publishing: 2011: 65-80
• “Illness as Metaphor.” Masterplots: Fourth Edition. Salem, CA: Salem Press: 2010: 2812-2814.
• “Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.” Masterplots: Fourth Edition. Salem, CA: Salem Press: 2010: 4469-4471.
• “Charles Baxter.” American Writers XVII. Jay Parini, ed. New York, Gale Publishing: 2007: 13-24.
• “Virgin Time” Masterplots II: Christian Literature. Salem, CA: Salem Press: 2007: 1883-1886.
• “Scott Russell Sanders.” American Writers XVI. Jay Parini, ed. New York, Gale Publishing: 2006: 183-200.
• “Hamlin Garland.” Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature. Jay Parini, ed. New York, Oxford UP: 2003: 95-97.
• “Ring Lardner.” Oxford Encyclopedia of American Literature. Jay Parini, ed. New York, Oxford UP: 2003: 402-404.

Fiction

• “Defendalyze.” 580 Split. Issue 4, Spring 2002: 24-30.
• “Ruth Has Her Reasons.” The Gihon River Review. Vol. 1, Spring 2002: 36-46.
• “Alger Walks the Lion.” Inkwell Magazine. Issue 12, Spring 2001: 10-13.
• “At Fault.” The Listening Eye. 1998: 60.

Poetry

• “Out West.” Conduit. No. 19. Spring 2008: on the “tragedy” page.
• “My Family Owns Greenhouses in Ohio.” Pinyon. Issue 14. Spring 2005: 34-35.
• “Girlfriend.” Hiram Poetry Review. Issue 65, Spring 2004: 37.
• “The Last Path to Me.” Tributaries. Issue 4, Fall 2001: 42-43.
• “He Was.” Main Street Rag. 4.3 (1999): 63.