Garnett Kilberg Cohen

Director, BA Creative Writing-Nonfiction Program

Garnett Kilberg-Cohen received her BA, magna cum laude, with honors in English Literature from the University of Cincinnati and her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Pittsburgh. From 1994 until 2005, she served as the Chairperson of the Department of English at Columbia College Chicago, where she has taught for over 20 years. Prior to assuming the chairpersonship, Garnett directed the college Writing Center. In 2007, she was named a Distinguished Artist at Columbia College Chicago, an honor that lasts for two years.  Her area of specialization is creative writing. She teaches both literature and writing courses.

CREATIVE NONFICTION:  She has published numerous pieces of nonfiction. Her most recent nonfiction publications include:  “Toledo, 124,” The Michigan Quarterly Review (2010); “Alzheimer’s Daughter,” PoemMemoirStory (2010); and "Out of Ohio: The Truth About the Truth" appeared in the special 2006 Creative Nonfiction issue of The Antioch Review.  She is at work on a memoir.

FICTION:  Garnett has published two collections of short stories, most recently How We Move the Air. Her awards include the 2004 Crazyhorse National Fiction Prize for her short story, "Second Sight"; the Lawrence Foundation Prize from Michigan Quarterly Review for "Bad News," the best story to appear in the journal in 2003 calendar year; and four awards from the Illinois Council of the Arts, including a 2001 Illinois Arts Council Individual Artist's Fellowship for prose. Her short stories have appeared in many publications, including American Fiction, Ontario Review, TriQuarterly, The Alaska Quarterly Review, The Literary Review, Descant, The Roanoke Review, and The Nebraska Review.

POETRY:  Garnett published a chapbook of poetry, Passion Tour (Finishing Line Press), in 2005. She has also published poetry in two anthologies, Dorothy Parker's Elbow (Warner Books) and A More Perfect Union (St. Martin's Press), as well as in many journals such as Tulane Review, Mid-American
Poetry Review, Calyx, The Maryland Review.

EDITORIAL & OTHER:  A former fiction editor of The Pennsylvania Review, a former editor-in-chief of The South Loop Review, and the former review editor at Another Chicago Magazine, Garnett is currently the Fiction Editor of Hotel Amerika. She has had multiple residencies at Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and Ragdale Foundation. She has been an invited judge or evaluator in several creative writing contests, most notably the WBEZ Public Radio Stories on Stage Competition and the Drue Heinz Prize.  Garnett has also worked as both a newspaper reporter and an advertising account executive.

Office Location: 300-Z, 3rd floor, 33 E. Congress

Office Phone: 312-369-8102.

Email: gkilberg-cohen@colum.edu

Mailing Address:
Garnett Kilberg Cohen
Department of English 
Columbia College of Chicago 
600 So. Michigan Avenue 
Chicago, IL 60605