Jeff Birkenstein

Jeff Birkenstein's major interests lie in the short story (American, world, and the short story sequence) as well as food and cultural criticism. He has assembled five co-edited collection of essays: Reframing 9/11: Film, Popular Culture and the “War on Terror” (Continuum, 2010) and The Cinema of Terry Gilliam: It’s a Mad World (Columbia University Press/Wallflower, 2013), with Anna Froula of East Carolina University and Karen Randell of Nottingham Trent University, UK; and, American Writers in Exile and Social Justice and American Literature (both with Salem Press/Grey House, 2015 and 2017, respectively) and European Writers in Exile (Lexington Press, 2018), all with Robert C. Hauhart of Saint Martin’s University. Birkenstein teaches a range of classes, from Freshman Seminar and Composition to The Short Story, Food & Fiction, and “Chasing the American Dream,” and “Narratives from the Aftermath of 9/11.” He received his Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky in 2003; he has a second MA in Teaching English as a Second/Other Language. He is a Fulbright Scholar (Petrozavodsk State University, Russia, 2013). He has eaten scorpions in Beijing.