Robert Rosenberg

Director, Creative Writing

Robert Rosenberg is Professor of English and teaches fiction courses at Bucknell. He holds an M.F.A. from the Iowa Writers' Workshop, has served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Kyrgyzstan, as a Fulbright Scholar in India, and has lived and taught in both Istanbul and on the White Mountain Apache Reservation.

His first novel, This Is Not Civilization, was a Borders Original Voices, a BookSense, and a New York Times Paperback Row selection. Rosenberg received an NEA Literature Fellowship for his second novel, Isles of the Blind, which was a 2016 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Finalist.

Educational Background

• M.F.A., Iowa

Teaching Interests

• Creative Writing (Fiction)
• Contemporary World Literature
• Travel Literature
• Comedy and Satire

Scholarly Interests

• Creative writing (Fiction)
• American and British Literature

Current Projects and Research Interests

• Currently at work on short stories set in Las Vegas, NV and a novel set in New Delhi, India.

Recent Awards and Recognition:

• Bucknell’s 2016 Class of 1956 Lectureship Teaching Award “in recognition of inspirational teaching."
• Isles of the Blind (2016) received the following honors: A 2016 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards Finalist in two categories: Literary Fiction and General Fiction; Selected in BookRiot's 100 Must-Read Works of Jewish Fiction; A 2010 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellowship; A 2008-2009 Black Mountain Institute Fellowship "for work ranging into international terrain."
• This Is Not Civilization received the following honors: A 2010 Alaska Book of the Year, The 2005 Maria Thomas Fiction Award for Best Peace Corps Novel, A New York Times Paperback Row selection, A BookSense Selection, A Borders Books Original Voices Selection, Shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize in Literature, A Publisher's Weekly First Fiction Selection, A TimeOut New York Emerging Voices Selection, A Miami Herald "Best Literary Offering of the Season", A Powells.com #1 Staff Pick, One of Library Journal's "Season's Most Successful Debuts"

Selected Publications:

Books:

• Isles of the Blind: A Novel.Burlington, VT. Fomite Press. March 1, 2016. 490 pages.

• This Is Not Civilization: A Novel. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Company. June 11, 2004. 304 pages. Hardcover edition (Reissued in paperback by Mariner, June 2005.)

Short Fiction:

• “Circus Circus.” Cimarron Review. Volume 178. Winter, 2011. pp 21-37.
• “The Golden Nugget.” Copper Nickel. Volume 16. August, 2011. pp. 70-83.
• “Little Things Like Happiness.” Fogged Clarity. Web. March 2011.
• “Used Crib.” Untoward Magazine (Featured Fiction selection; nominated for the 2012 Puschart Prize). Web. February, 2011.
• “The Princes’ Islands: a novel excerpt.” Pennsylvania Literary Journal. Volume 2, Issue 2. Winter 2010. pp 150-163.
• “Citizen, Speak Turkish: a novel excerpt.” Witness. Volume XXIII. 2010. pp. 207-224.

Creative Nonfiction:

• “Signs of Life in India.” The Montreal Review. Web. February, 2011.
• “Dancing in Kyrgyzstan.” TheMontreal Review. Web. January, 2011.

Anthologized:

• “Circus Circus.” New Stories from the Southwest. Ed. Seth Horton. University of New Mexico Press. 2018.
• “Using Summary, Indirect, and Direct Dialogue,” Naming the World and Other Exercises for the Creative Writer. Ed. Bret Anthony Johnston. Random House. 2007. pp. 243-247.

Articles and Reviews:

• “How Standing Against Islamophobia Helped A Pennsylvania Community Heal,” The Forward. Web. February 2, 2017.

• Review of One Hundred Names for Love, by Diane Ackerman. West Branch. Fall/Winter 2011.
• Review of A Tale of Love and Darkness, by Amos Oz. West Branch. Fall/Winter 2009.
• Review of The Dancer from Khiva, by Bibish. “Pursuit of Happiness.” The Moscow Times. September 12, 2008: Context 5.