Baker Artist Portfolios

I am a literary artist, working in fiction and nonfiction. Though I've lived all over the country, I've called Baltimore home since 2007, living first in the city and for the last two years just across the city line in Baltimore County.

I've authored three books and published individual stories and essays in some of the country's top literary journals including Kenyon Review, Ploughshares, Missouri Review, Southern Review, and Georgia Review. A one-time newspaper reporter, I shifted to literary work by earning an MFA in creative writing at the University of Arkansas. I've taught journalism or creative writing at Towson University, the University of Montana, and the American Indian Journalism Institute at the University of South Dakota.

I'm grateful to have received awards to support my work, including fellowships or grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Maryland State Arts Council, the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Anderson Center for Interdisciplinary Studies, and a Rubys award from the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance. Three of my short stories have been named "distinguished" stories in the Best American Short Stories series, and two others were anthologized in the Best American Mystery Stories series. In 2021-22, I served as a U.S. Fulbright Scholar to Poland, based in Kraków and affiliated with Jagiellonian University.

The Polish poet Adam Zagajewski once observed "It is not time that is lacking, only focus." With that in mind, I have shifted focus, deciding that my career as a tenured professor will end in May 2024 so that I may dedicate myself to my literary work.