Degrees Held

B.A., 1981, University of Colorado
M.A., 1991, University of Denver
Ph.D., 1996, University of Denver

Academic Summary

Kristen Iversen is the author of the bestselling biography Molly Brown: Unraveling the Myth, winner of the Colorado Book Award and the Barbara Sudler Award in Nonfiction, and a textbook, Shadow Boxing: Art and Craft in Creative Nonfiction. Her work has appeared in literary journals around the country, and her forthcoming memoir, Full Body Burden: Growing Up in the Shadow of Rocky Flats, chronicles her experiences with Rocky Flats, a government facility near Denver that secretly produced the heart of every nuclear bomb made in the U.S. and resulted in radioactive contamination of nearby communities.  Iversen has worked extensively with A & E Biography, The History Channel, and The National Endowment for the Humanities.  She currently teaches at the University of Memphis, where she is Coordinator of the MFA Program and also Editor-in-Chief of the award-winning literary journal The Pinch.

Courses Taught

7601 Creative Nonfiction Workshop
7470 Forms of Creative Nonfiction
7475 Literary Publishing
4603 Fiction Workshop
4600 Creative Nonfiction Workshop

Major Publications

Molly Brown: Unraveling the Myth. Johnson Books, 1999. (Winner of the 2000 Colorado Book Award and the Barbara Sudler Award for Nonfiction). Fourth printing 2009.

Shadow Boxing: Art and Craft in Creative Nonfiction. Prentice Hall, 2004.

"Final Cut." Telling Stories Out of Court. Ruth O'Brien, ed. Cornell University Press, 2008.

Keep It Real: Everything You Need to Know about Researching and Writing Creative Nonfiction. Co-author, Lee Gutkind, et al, W. W. Norton, 2008.

"Poetry and Politics: Interview with Dana Gioia, Chairman of the NEA." Divide, 2005.

"Chatelaine." Sites of Insight: Colorado Sacred Places. University of Colorado Press, Fall 2003. (Winner of the 2003 Colorado Endowment of the Humanities Publication Prize)

"Full Body Burden: Chapter One." Divide: The University of Colorado's Journal of Writing and Ideas. Fall 2003. (Nominated for a Pushcart Prize)

The Living Circle: Women's Fraternities in America. Alpha Gamma Delta, Inc. 2004.