Paulette Livers
Paulette Livers was born and grew up in rural Kentucky. Her father was an artist, musician, and self-taught electronics wiz. Her mother was an organic farmer, growing all the vegetables her enormous family could consume, along with fresh eggs and the annual yearling calf.
Educated for twelve years by Catholic nuns, and then in Kentucky's university system, Paulette lived and worked in Louisville for several years as a graphic designer at Louisville Today magazine before moving to Atlanta. There her two daughters were born, along with a flourishing book design studio, where she created covers, interiors, and promotional materials for publishers all over the South. Eventually, her family moved west, and for the next twenty years, Boulder CO was home. There she worked as a painter, illustrator, and book designer for publishers around the country. After a full-time stint as Art Director at Interweave Press—and many years of clandestine writing—her passion for books and literature led her to a Boulder writing group, where she was encouraged to share her writing beyond the privacy of her studio. Chucking it all (for a while, at least), Paulette left her day job to earn the MFA in Creative Writing at the University of Colorado. At CU, she taught creative writing, worked as a speechwriter to the Chancellor, and curated the English Department's year-long reading series.
She subsequently moved to Chicago, where she still lives. Her first novel, CEMENTVILLE (Counterpoint Press), had its roots in her MFA thesis project, and was inspired by wartime events in her hometown, Bardstown KY. Along with new works by Joyce Carol Oates and Isabel Allende, CEMENTVILLE received the Elle magazine Lettres Prize. It was a finalist for the Center for Fiction's Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize, shortlisted for the Chicago Writers Association Book of the Year, and is currently one of three finalists for the Kentucky Literary Award (award to be announced in April).
The recipient of the David Nathan Meyerson Prize for Fiction, her work has been honorably-mentioned or shortlisted for awards from Britain's International Bridport Prize, Chattahoochee Review, Hunger Mountain, Kentucky Women Writers Conference, Red Hen Press Short Story Award, Writers@Work, and others. Her stories have appeared in the Southwest Review, The Dos Passos Review, Spring Gun Press, and elsewhere and can be heard at the audio-journal Bound Off. Support and recognition for her fiction and essays has come from many generous places: Artcroft Foundation, Aspen Writers Foundation, Bedell Foundation, Center for the American West, Community of Writers at Squaw Valley, Denver Women's Press Club, Key West Literary Seminars, Ox-Bow Artist Residence, Poets & Writers Readings & Workshops Program, and most recently from Vermont Studio Center and Virginia Center for Creative Arts.
Paulette now teaches writing at Story Studio Chicago, and is Creative Director at Mighty Sword Studio, where she helps writers and artists prepare their work for publication through manuscript consultation, coaching, and editing, as well as designing beautiful books for publishers.
She is at work on her next novel. Please visit www.PauletteLivers.com.
