Gregory Spatz

Gregory Spatz received his MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Previously, he taught fiction at the University of Iowa and the University of Memphis. Gregory’s first novel, No One But Us, was published by Algonquin Books (1995). Stories from his recent collection, Wonderful Tricks, were included in Best American Short Stories: 100 Distinguished Stories of the Year (1994 and 1997). He is the recipient of fellowships from the Michener-Copernicus Society of America (1996) and Breadloaf (1996), as well as a GAP Award from Artist Trust (1999). He was a finalist for the 2000 Flannery O’Connor Award in short fiction, winner of the 2000 Mid-List Press First Series Award in short fiction, and recipient of a 2003 Washington State Book Award for Wonderful Tricks. His short fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Glimmer Train Stories, The Iowa Review, Epoch, Indiana Review, The Journal, Shenandoah, and The New England Review, among others.

Gregory received 2010 GAP Award funding to continue work on a new novel, ICE MASTERS. ICE MASTERS is partly an historical novel concerning his great-great uncle, Arctic explorer, John Franklin. John Franklin was by far the best funded and most celebrated Arctic expedition of all time, went to seek the Northwest Passage in 1845 and was never heard from again. His wife, Jane Franklin, years after the British Admiralty had given up hope of ever finding her husband (and his 100+ seamen), never ceased in her efforts at raising money to send search parties after him until, 33 search expeditions and 35,000 pounds sterling later, remains were found. His story is the single worst and most tragic in all of Arctic exploration.