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Melissa Sanders-Self
Continuing Lecturer
She/Her
Humanities Division
Literature Department
Creative Writing Program
Continuing Lecturer
Faculty
Kresge College
Porter College
Lecturer
Cowell College Academic Building
Cowell 111, Cowell Faculty Annex
Humanities 1 234
Wednesdays 1-3 and by appt.
Humanities Academic Services
Melissa Sanders-Self writes in a variety of genres including fiction, memoir, documentary film and journalism. Her first novel All that Lives was a Doubleday Book of the Month selection and her second novel The Stone Mother was a semifinalist for the Bellwether Prize. She is the author of short stories published by Brighton Books, New Rivers Press, Red Wheelbarrow and her opinion journalism appears in the LA Times. Her most recent work can be found in Catamaran and The Sun literary magazines. Her documentary Writing Women's Lives, which aired nationally on PBS, is available to stream from McHenry library. She was awarded artist residencies from both Ucross and the Djerassi Foundation and is an ongoing participant in the Write to Change the World Op-Ed Project.
She is a continuing lecturer in Literature/Creative Writing at UCSC and has devoted most of the last 20 years to teaching and learning. She loves to teach and learn as much as she loves to write. She teaches in-coming UCSC students college Core at Kresge and Porter Colleges.
In 2016 she received the UCSC Excellence in Teaching Award and she was a faculty fellow with the TLC at UCSC 2019-2023 and again in 2026-27. She lives in Santa Cruz.
Literary fiction: Elements of Craft
Post-contenporary literary fiction; mimimalism, absurdism, experimental forms, screenplays
What Makes us Human: working with Ai and attention
Excellence in Teaching Award
Kresge College Commendation
Crown College Commendation
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