Africana Studies

Shubha Venugopal

Dr. Sheba Lo
Full-Time Faculty
Email:
Phone:
(8180 677-2377
Office location:
SN 216

Biography

Education

BA in English, Northwestern University
Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, Bennington College  
Ph.D. in English Language and Literature, University of Michigan

Courses Taught

African American Literature Since the 1930's. (AFRS 245)
Contemporary Black Female Writers (AFRS 346)
Creative Writing Introduction (AFRS 280 and ENGL 208)
Advanced Writing (AFRS 350)
Cultural Theories and Methods: The Harlem Renaissance (HUM 391)
Special Topics: The Novels of Toni Morrison (AFRS 595 A)
Advanced Afro-American World Experience (AFRS 590A)

Selected Publications

  •  “Playing at Parent,” (fiction) Southern Indiana Review. Awards issue, (print anthology) Spring 2018.
  •  “How Will You Not Drown?” (fiction). Nimrod International Journal Awards Issue #39. (print anthology), September, 2017
  • “House in an Earthquake,” (poetry) WomenArts Quarterly Journal (Fall 2017)
  • “Search For Your Son,” (fiction) Fish Anthology 2017 (Fish International Publishing Prize Winning Story), Summer 2017
  • “Our Bed Is This Way,” (fiction) BANG! The New Guard, January, 2017
  • “Mountain and Wife,” (poetry) BANG! The New Guard, January, 2017
  • “Winter at Zion,” (fiction) BANG! The New Guard, January, 2017
  • “Climb On,” (fiction). The Masters Review Volume 5 (print anthology), October, 2016.
  • “Desire,” (fiction) Kartika Review.  Fall, 2013.
  • “Maya,” (fiction) Potomac Review.  Winter, 2013.
  • ‘Remembering Everything They Don’t Want To Forget’: Memory, Loving, and the Blues in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God.” (academic book chapter). Published in Memory and the Narrative Imagination in the African and Diaspora Experience.  Editor:  Tom Spencer-Walters.  Bedford Publishers, Inc., 2011.
  •  “Luck,” (fiction) Featured story in Asia Writes.  April 17, 2011.
    • “Lalita and The Banyan Tree” (fiction). Finalist in the Robert Olen Butler Short Story Prize Anthology. Del Sol Press, 2010. *Originally published in Post Road Magazine, 2007.
    •  “Washing,” (prose poetry) The Scruffy Dog Review.  Spring 2007
    • “Shame,” (fiction) Gambara. Summer 2007.
    • “Difference,” (fiction) Storyglossia. Summer 2007.
    • “Rippling Sand, Rolling Ocean,” (fiction) Word Riot.  Winter 2007.
    • “Lalita and the Banyan Tree,” (fiction) Post Road Magazine, Winter 2007.
      • “Bhakthi in the Water,” (fiction).  Published in, A Stranger Among Us: Stories of Cross Cultural Collision and Connection. OV Books/ University of Illinois Press.  (2007).  **My story received positive book reviews by Library Journal, Booklist, and Feminist Review.
      • “Textual Transfigurations and Female Metamorphosis: Reading Gayl Jones’s The Healing.” (academic book chapter). Published in After the Pain: Critical Essays on Gayl Jones, eds. Fiona Mills and Keith Mitchell.  Peter Lang Publishing: New York, 2006.
      • “Underwater,” (prose poetry) VerbSap.  Winter 2006.
      • “Becoming One,” (prose poetry) Flashquake.  Winter 2006.
      • “A Visit To India From America: Watching the Garba (Folk) Dance,” (prose poetry) Antithesis Common, Winter 2006

*Previously published in a poem format in Kalliope 23:2. Finalist in Sue Saniel Elkin Poetry Competition, 2000.

  • “No Time,” (prose poetry)The Angler.  Winter 2006.
  • “Brief Bombay Visit,” (prose poetry) Elimae, Fall 2006.
  • “Shattered,” (fiction) Boston Literary Magazine, Fall 2006.
  • “Milk,” (poetry) Literary Mama, Fall 2006. 
  • “Fingerprints,” (poetry) Literary Mama, Fall 2006. 
  • “Story of a Love Fruit,” (fiction) Eclectica, Summer 2006.
  • “American Kitchen,” (poetry).  Women Writers, Summer 2006.
  • “Neela’s Lucky Penny” (fiction) Mslexia (UK), Spring 2005. 

Selected Presentations and Professional Development

  • Panelist at AWP Conference Kansas City, Missouri, March 2021 (upcoming)
  • Panelist at AWP Conference, “MFA or PhD for People of Color,” San Antonio, TX, March 2020 (postponed due to COVID 19)
  • Invited Participant in DISQUIET Writing Residency International Program, July 2019, Azores, Portugal
  • Invited Workshop and Festival Participant, including Reading Presentation of Award-Winning Story: West Cork Literary Festival, Ireland, July 2017
  • Panel lecture and reading for Emerging Women Writers of Color with Writer-in-Residence Sakae Manning. Annenberg Community Beach House, 415 Pacific Coast Highway, Santa Monica, CA. October 24, 2017.
  • Fiction Writer for Performance of my story, “Playing at Parent,” at The New Short Fiction Series' performance, Stories From Our Landscape, as part of the Beach=Culture series at the Annenberg Community  Beach House. November 7, 2017
  • Panel Moderator and Lecture at Reading and Conversation: Claiming Identity in our Writing. Annenberg Community Beach House, 415 Pacific Coast Highway, Santa Monica, CA.  November 14, 2017.
  • Navigating the Publishing Industry as a South Asian Writer Panel, UCLA. Panel Presentation, May 31, 2017.
  • Reading at Lit Crawl of Los Angeles, MWC Panel, October 26, 2016.
    • College of Social And Behavioral Sciences Faculty Presentation: “Using Creative Writing As A Pedagogical Strategy Across the Disciplines.” May 13, 2011.
    • CIELO/ WRAD Faculty Development Workshop, “Using Creative Writing As A Pedagogical Strategy Across the Disciplines.” Februrary 22, 2011.
    • The Name of Longing (excerpts).  Dramatic readings of my short story collection performed during the New Short Fiction Series on February 14th, 2010 at the LA Municipal Art Gallery in Barnsdall Park.
    • “Crafting Character Through Gesture.”  Presented during the Pedagogy Forum at the Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) Conference, Chicago, IL. Feb. 12-15, 2009.
    • 7th Annual West Hollywood Book Fair, September 28th, 2008. Author panel presentation on A Stranger Among Us: Stories of Cross Cultural Collision and Connection. Panel discussions centered on topics concerning politics, racial identity in America, and literature for social change.
    • “Exploring the Shades of Harlan: Gayl Jones, Language, and Female Friendship.”  Presented as part of the African American Literature Panel at the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association Conference, Reno, NV, October 9-11, 2008.
    • “A Diamond Comes Into Flame.” Presented at the Mendocino Coast Writers’ Conference, Fort Bragg, August 2008.  Winner of Ellen Meloy Literature for Social Change Award and Creative Nonfiction Award.
    • “A Worthwhile Story To Tell: Guidelines for Writing Creative Personal Essays.” Presented as part of the Pedagogy Forum at the Association for Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) Conference, New York, NY, Jan. 30-Feb. 3, 2008.
    • “Teaching Close Analysis: A Reading of Jamaica Kincaid’s ‘Girl.’”  Presented in a 35-minute lecture format at Bennington College, VT, Jan. 2008.
    • “Shame.” Presented as a 20-minute fiction reading at Bennington College, VT, Jan. 2008.
    • “Exploring Without Erasing: Staying True to Morrison’s Vision.” African American Literature Permanent Section Panel: Teaching Toni Morrison.  Presented at the Midwest Modern Language Association (MMLA) Conference, Cleveland, OH, Nov. 8-11, 2007.

Research and Interests

African-American and Black Diaspora Literature and Theory

Creative Writing

Pedagogy

Ethnic Literature of the United States

Women’s Writings

Postcolonial Literature and Theory

Contemporary American Literature

Honors, Awards, Public Recognition

Notable Entry DISQUIET Prize Writing Contest, 2019. Includes acceptance to Azores Writing Residency.

Finalist, Salamander Fiction Contest, 2019.

Honorable Mention, Glimmer Train Fiction Open Competition, 2019

Notable Entry, DISQUIET Prize Writing Contest 2018.

Top Ten Finalists, Colorado Review, Nelligan Prize 2018

First Place Winner of the 2017 Mary C. Mohr Fiction Competition ($2000 award): Southern Indiana Review.

Honorable Mention and Publication: Katherine Anne Porter fiction prize: Nimrod International Journal, September 2017.

Short-Listed for the Nelligan Prize Fiction Competition, The Colorado Review, 2017 and 2016.

Finalist in Fish International Publishing Flash Fiction Competition, Spring 2017.

Winner in The Master’s Review annual anthology fiction competition (ten winners chosen out of several thousand entries; includes publication and $500).  May, 2016

Short-listed in Fish International Poetry Prize competition, May 2016

Finalist in Kore Press 9th Annual Short Fiction Competition, 2017

Honorable Mention in Glimmer Train Fiction Open Competition, March/April 2017.

Honorable Mention in Glimmer Train Fiction Open Competition, June 2014.

Honorable Mention in Glimmer Train Family Matters Fiction Competition, March 2014

Shubha Venugopal Interview by Ada Tseng: Asia Pacific Arts Magazine, February, 2010.

The Name of Longing (excerpts).  Dramatic readings of my short story collection performed during the New Short Fiction Series on February 14th, 2010 at the LA Municipal Art Gallery in Barnsdall Park.

“Lalita and the Banyan Tree.”  Finalist in Robert Olen Butler Short Story Prize.

Polished Apple Award.  (Teaching Award).  California State University Northridge, Monday, April 13, 2009.

Winner of the Ellen Meloy Literature for Social Change Award at Mendocino Coast Writers’ Conference, August 2008.

Winner of the Creative Nonfiction Award, a full tuition scholarship, and a $50 honorarium at Mendocino Coast Writers’ Conference, August 2008.

Winner of Full Scholarship to attend Advanced Fiction Workshop at the Aspen Summer Words Conference in Aspen, CO, June 22-27, 2008.

Honorable Mention in The Atlantic Monthly’s Student Writing Contest . 

Honorable Mention in Glimmer Train Fiction Open Competition, December 2007.

My Paper, “A Worthwhile Story To Tell: Guidelines for Writing Creative Personal Essays,” that was presented as part of the Pedagogy Forum at the Association for Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) Conference, New York, NY, Jan. 30-Feb. 3, 2008, and made it into the top 40 finalists for the Best of the AWP Papers 2008.

Fiction Nominee for AWP 2005-2006 Intro Journals Project (Bennington College), Fall 2005.

Long-Listed for Fish International Short Story Prize, 2005-2006.

Finalist in Sue Saniel Elkind Poetry Competition 2000.

Nomination for Teaching Award, (University of Michigan) Fall Semester 1996.

Personal Excerpt

Shubha Venugopal holds a PhD in literature from the University of Michigan and an MFA in creative writing from Bennington College. She is an Associate Professor at the California State University, Northridge. She has won numerous literary prizes, including first place in The Southern Indiana Review’s 2019 fiction competition. She was a top winner in The Masters Review annual story competition and has won awards or placed in literary contests by Nimrod International Journal, Salamander, Glimmer Train, Colorado Review, Nimrod International Journal, The Atlantic Monthly and Fish Publications. She was a finalist in the 2016 WC&C Scholarship award offered by the AWP. Being shortlisted for the Fish Publishing InternationalPoetry Contest, 2016, won her a trip to Ireland, and in 2019 she won a trip to Azores, Portugal through The Disquiet Review. Her work has appeared in literary magazines such as The Southern Indiana Review, Nimrod International Journal, The Masters Review, WomenArts Quarterly, The New Guard, Potomac Review, Kartika Review, Post Road Magazine, Storyglossia, Word Riot, Mslexia, and many others, as well as in anthologies such as Memory and the Narrative Imagination in the African and Diaspora Experience; After the Pain: Critical Essays on Gayle Jones; A Stranger Among Us: Stories of Cross Cultural Collision and Connection; and The Robert Olen Butler Short Fiction Prize 2009. Dramatic readings of her works were performed by actors through New Short Fiction Series at the LA Municipal Art Gallery. She was selected as the winner of a Teaching Fellows grant by the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, as well as various other grants, such as those enabling her to study sustainability and ecotourism efforts in Costa Rica.  She has been teaching at CSUN since 2007.