Meet the Leo Love Awardee in Prose: Christine Fadden

Christine Fadden has lived across the United States from Delaware to Oregon, and her wanderlust propelled her to travel the world teaching English. Her love of language and communication led her back to her childhood passion for writing, and in 2009 she received her MFA from Warren Wilson College. She is currently based in Story, Wyoming where she does freelance writing, teaches community classes, and is hard at work on a novel. “Just as there is no substitute for living in another country if you want to master a foreign language, there is no substitute for committing yourself to a passionate and engaged writing community if you want to write,” Fadden says. She will be taking the weeklong master class with instructor Antonya Nelson, an intensive workshop for fiction manuscripts. 

On Friday, July 19th at 12:30 pm in the Sagebrush Inn Conference Center in Taos, NM, Fadden will read from her novel-in-progress, The Geometry of Changing Course, which is set in southern New Jersey and honors all things 1980–including that year’s World Series Champs, the Philadelphia Phillies. This event is free and open to the public.

Fadden’s work has been published in many journals including New South, Sou’wester, Painted Bride Quarterly, and The Louisville Review. An excerpt from her forthcoming novel will be published this year in the American Literary Review. Fadden has received numerous fellowships, residencies, and awards from organizations including the Jentel Artist Residency, Vermont Studio Center, Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts, and the Wyoming Arts Council.

The Leo Love scholarships are offered annually in prose and poetry to honor the life and contributions of Leo Love, a writer and devoted supporter of the Taos Summer Writers’ Conference. This merit-based award is given to a Conference participant whose work stands out as excellent and captivating. The scholarship provides full tuition for a weeklong workshop. Past recipients in prose include: Kim Bradley, St. Augustine, FL (2012), Emma Rainey, Fairfield, IA (2011), and Sally Smith Hutchins, Brentwood, TN (2010).