About

AnnElise Hatjakes holds a PhD in English from the University of Missouri and an MA in writing and an MFA in fiction from the University of Nevada, Reno.

In her fiction, she explores the relationship between place and identity, inspired by her upbringing in Reno, Nevada. Her short story collection, Matter Out of Place, is forthcoming from the University of Nevada Press. She is currently completing revisions of her novel that tracks two parallel stories: one about a present-day historian in Reno and one about the subject of her Comstock-era research—slain brothel madame, Julia Bulette. Her critical interests center around mythmaking in the American western.

As an educator, she has worked to expose her students to diverse voices that are often excluded from the canon or are otherwise silenced. She is the recipient of the University of Chicago's Outstanding Educator Award and the Gus Reid Award for teaching university composition, and has taught at a wide range of institutions, including a public high school, a school for gifted students, a county jail, two universities, a correctional facility, and two community colleges.