Emily Barton

Emily Barton is an Associate Professor of Creative Writing at Oberlin College, affiliated with the College of Arts and Sciences. She holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop (1995) and an AB from Harvard & Radcliffe Colleges (1991, summa cum laude). Her works include three novels—The Testament of Yves Gundron, Brookland, and The Book of Esther—and extensive contributions to literary magazines like Story, American Short Fiction, and Conjunctions. Her research interests span creative writing pedagogy, narrative structure, and contemporary fiction analysis.

Recent publications include essays on Rabbi Delphine Horvilleur (Tablet, 2024) and reviews of Lina Wolff’s The Devil’s Grip (Times Literary Supplement, 2024) and Vigdis Hjorth’s Is Mother Dead (TLS, 2023). Her work has been supported by prestigious grants from the Guggenheim Foundation and National Endowment for the Arts.

• Awards: Bard Fiction Prize, Guggenheim Fellowship, NEA Grant
• Teaching Roles: Taught at NYU, Yale, Columbia, Smith College, and Princeton before joining Oberlin

Barton’s academic contributions include pioneering digital anthologies during the pandemic and collaborative projects with undergraduate students, such as a workshop at Westlake School (2022).