About Me

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Lance Dyzak completed his PhD in Creative Writing in 2021 at The University of Tennessee, where he also taught fiction, poetry, and cinema studies. As a doctoral student, he completed a novel called Arrangements for his creative dissertation, which was a finalist in the Faulkner-Wisdom Creative Writing Competition. His writing has also appeared in national publications such as Southwest Review, Southern Indiana Review, New Limestone Review, and elsewhere. His creative work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and twice awarded the John C. Hodges Graduate Writing Prize for Fiction. His essay, “So What If It’s Fake?” investigating Umberto Eco’s concept of “hyperreality,” won the McGinnis-Ritchie Award for Non-Fiction by Southern Methodist University. At present, he teaches creative writing at Central College in Pella, IA.

Hear about his journey as a writer on the Shitty First Drafts podcast: