Visiting Writers Series: Elizabeth McCracken

On October 4th, American University’s MFA in Creative Writing program hosted this year’s PEN/Bernard and Ann Malamud Award for Excellence in the Short Story in the Katzen Arts Center. This year’s recipient, Elizabeth McCracken, is the author of nine books of fiction and non-fiction. Her short stories have appeared multiple times in The Best American Short Stories, The Pushcart Prize, and on NPR’s Selected Shorts. Her most recent collection of short stories, The Souvenir Museum, was longlisted for the National Book Award. Thunderstruck and Other Stories was also longlisted for the National Book Award and won the 2015 Story Prize. (Pen/Faulkner)

The evening began with welcoming remarks from PEN/Faulkner Executive Director Gwydion Suilebhan, followed by an introduction of McCracken by Rhonda Zimlich, director of American University’s MFA in Creative Writing program. Then, the crowd settled in for a reading from McCracken herself—a short story about siblings and their children at the beach. When they come across what appears to be a dead man and his dog, their chase of the dog becomes an entry point into a deeper exploration of the siblings’ relationship and the fractures within their family.

McCracken’s work balanced tenderness with sharp humor, which she brings to life through characters whose eccentricities and embarrassments feel strikingly real.

We transitioned into the Q&A portion of the night, moderated by Yiyun Li, the award’s 2022 winner and the winner of the 2026 Pulitzer Prize in Memoir or Autobiography. Li observed that readers can often recognize an Elizabeth McCracken story in just the first few lines. “Those are McCracken characters,” she noted. Second year MFA student Elizabeth Peller found this moment revealing: “They had a bit of a disagreement about this,” she noted. “Li said that all of McCracken’s characters’ worlds are a little off-kilter. But McCracken said she tries to be as real as possible. Perhaps that’s where the strangeness comes from.”

McCracken also detailed how she plays with time, describing how she moves freely between past and present without adhering to conventional narrative rules or reader expectations. Rather than worrying about where a story should go, she focuses on taking the reader with her through a “compressing of space.”

Later, Li asked McCracken why she remains committed to the form of short-story when so many short stories writers feel a pressure to transition to novels as a more commercialized art form. “A short story is a device that helps me understand things in a way that’s different from a novel both as a reader and a writer,” McCracken replied. “It’s a tool for understanding” and it can sometimes require only a day’s work to draft. Her favorite short stories, she added, teach readers nothing about how to write one. Still, she finds an “exhilaration” in the experience of writing and reading them.

Currently, McCracken is working on a novel in the first-person. To Li, this felt like a callback to her earlier work. McCracken published her first short story collection in 1993 and often wrote in the first-person, but shifted to the third person throughout her writing career. She also reflected on how her earlier works were set in America, while her later pieces moved internationally. These days, she often begins with a setting and builds from there.

For Elizabeth Peller, hearing McCracken reflect on these changes was a reminder of how much writers can learn from a lifetime devoted to their craft. McCracken’s willingness to recognize and discuss the evolution of her work reminded writers in the audience that our work, and the way we approach it, can grow and change over decades.

Following the Q&A, PEN/Faulkner Board Co-President Elizabeth Shreve introduced Janna Malamud Smith, daughter of Bernard Malamud, the award’s namesake. Smith shared heartwarming imagery of her father’s full bookshelves and his profound love of literature and dedication to craft. These qualities, reflected in McCracken’s own work, made her a fitting recipient of the award. Smith then formally presented McCracken with the honor.

PEN/Faulkner Board Co-President Anne K. Aaron closed the ceremony, offering another round of applause for McCracken, Smith, and Suilebhan, who is preparing to end this chapter as Executive Director of PEN/Faulkner. After the formal programming, attendees gathered to mingle and McCracken and Li signed books. 

The evening marked a successful first installment of the MFA in Creative Writing program’s Visiting Writer Series, bringing established literary voices and the American University writing community together for a celebration of the short story.