Jason Skipper

Jason Skipper is the author of the novel Hustle, which was selected as a finalist for the PEN USA Award for Fiction. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including Hotel Amerika and Mid-American Review, with awards and recognition from Zoetrope: All-Story, Glimmer Train, and Crab Orchard Review. In addition, he is the recipient of grants from Artist Trust and the Vermont Studio Center as well as nominations for the Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses and Best of the Web anthologies. He teaches creative writing and literature at Pacific Lutheran University.

Jason received 2015 GAP Award funding for his manuscript “In His Hands” (working title), that pulls from his father’s life recollections and the research he has conducted to explore events as they actually happened, the life his father imagined, and the ways people use storytelling to create identity and survive. The funds will allow him to focus entirely on the manuscript and if published, will be Jason’s second book.

Jason received 2009 GAP Award funding to help defray the cost of living during the summer. Jason’s short story collection takes place in Tacoma and revolves around 15 people who, because of death, disease, language difficulties, sexuality, and numerous other reasons, find themselves isolated and estranged from friends and family. Characters include a Nagasaki era survivor, a lesbian couple, a university student with a crush on his English professor, and a divorced woman inflicted by AIDS.