Tanya Whiton is a Portland, Maine-based writer and teacher. She recently purchased a condominium in a beautiful old historic building, and is enjoying the bourgeois pleasures of having a dishwasher and on-site laundry.

Ms. Whiton’s stories and poems have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including Solstice, A Magazine of Diverse Voices; The Way Life Should Be: Contemporary Stories By Maine Writers, North Dakota Quarterly, Western Humanities Review, Northwest Review, Crazyhorse 63 American Fiction: Volume 10, Words & Images, and The Café Review. (Trying to get your hands on a copy of one of the abovementioned journals? Check the publications page.)

After earning a Masters Degree in Fiction Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts in 2001, Ms. Whiton taught creative writing, literature, and composition for the University of Southern Maine for six years, in addition to teaching workshops for MWPA, Stonecoast Summer Writers’ Conference, and the Lesley Seminars.

From 2001–2005, she was a regular contributor to the Portland Phoenix, where her pieces on boxing and no-holds-barred fighting won two New England Press Association Awards. She has also published numerous articles about healthcare, dance and performance art, fashion, food, and travel.

The recipient of the 2009 Martin Dibner Memorial Fellowship for Poets, and the 2000 Martin Dibner Memorial Fellowship for Fiction Writers, Ms. Whiton has performed her work in venues ranging from the Black Cat in Washington D.C. to the Big Buck Mall in Washington, Maine. She collaborated on the adaptation of her short story “The Deal,” into an eponymous short film, which won the Special Jury Prize at the 2003 U.S. National Short Film Competition. She has also contributed work to Casco Bay Weekly, The Bollard, and Maine Public Radio.

Ms. Whiton is currently at work on revising short fiction; a poem series about growing up in a military family; and a collection of interrelated short stories. She is the Assistant Director for the Solstice Creative Writing Programs of Pine Manor College in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, where she enjoys the fine company of her boss-friend Meg Kearney.