Bio

Greetings!  My name is Michael Davis and I am a writer, editor, and writing teacher, currently based in Hawaii.  I write fiction, narrative and journalistic nonfiction, work as a freelance writer and book editor, and teach composition and fiction writing.

I’ve published two collections of short stories, Gravity (Carnegie Mellon UP, 2009) and Cruel Stars (Thrown Free, 2017). 

My writing has appeared in Descant, The San Joaquin Review, The Jabberwock Review, The Black Mountain Review, Eclipse, Cottonwood, The Mid-American Review, Full Circle, Hayden’s Ferry Review, The Georgia Review, Storyglossia, The Chicago Quarterly Review, Willow Springs, The Normal School, Arcana, The Superstition Review, The New Ohio Review, The Painted Bride Quarterly, The Atticus Review, Isthmus, the Earlyworks Press Short Story Anthology, Redline, Forge, The Writing Disorder, Small Print Magazine, Ginosko Literary Journal, The Blather, Pain Talks, ReVue, Literati Magazine, Student Voices, Human Parts, Ink & Coda, Visitant, Terror House, West Trade Review, DecomP, Oracle Fine Arts Review, Nonconformist Magazine, and Splice Today.  

I have a PhD in English from Western Michigan University, an MFA in fiction writing from the University of Montana, an MIS in Information Technology Management, and a BA in English from the University of California, Irvine.  I hold an Expert TESOL teaching certification from the American TESOL Institute and an ABA Paralegal Certification from the University of California, San Diego.

I’ve taught at the University of Hawaii-Manoa, Stamford International University (Bangkok), The Gotham Writers Workshop, Tallinn University, Butte College, Western Michigan University, San Joaquin Memorial High School, University of Missouri, University of Montana, California State University Fresno, and Fresno City College.

I have been nominated for inclusion in Best of the Net Anthology by The Nonconformist Magazine (2021) and for the Pushcart Prize by Hayden’s Ferry Review (2003), The Mid-American Review (2004), Storyglossia (2007), Isthmus (2014), and Forge (2015). My awards include the Editor’s Choice Award in the Sherwood Anderson Fiction Contest (2004) and the George Garrett Fiction Award (2008).  My story, “The Man in Africa,” was voted one of the Million Writers Award Notable Stories of 2007.

My fiction has been reviewed in Five Star Literary Stories (2008),  The Southeast Review (2009), and Third Coast (2010).