Major Works
Mary Miller. Used by permission
- Always Happy Hour: Stories 2017
- Last Days of California, A Novel 2014
- Big World: Short Stories, 2009
- Less Shiny: Short Stories, 2008
Biography of Mary Miller
Mary Miller is a native Mississippian who was born in Jackson. Her professors at the University of Southern Mississippi, Frederick Barthelme and Steven Barthelme, taught her much about writing as they are writers themselves. As a graduate student, she attended the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas in Austin.
The Last Days of California by Mary Miller
Less Shiny, Miller’s first chapbook collection of short stories, was published in 2008 by Magic Helicopter Press. A full-length collection of short stories entitled Big World was published in 2009 and is now in its third printing. Her first novel, The Last Days of California, was published in 2014 to wide acclaim. In it, the Metcalf family is on a road trip from Alabama to the Pacific Ocean where they hope to witness the rapture. Miller says she grew up Catholic in the South where most people are Protestant and so did not know about the idea of the rapture until she grew up. The story is told from the point of view of a teenager named Jess, who is not all that interested is the reason for the family’s trip.
In 2014, she was the Grisham Writer-in-Residence at the University of Mississippi. She was also a featured speaker at the 2014 Eudora Welty Symposium at the W in Columbus, Mississippi. She is currently Visiting Assistant Professor at Mississippi University for Women. She has been a participant at the Mississippi Book Festival in Jackson.
Her second novel, Always Happy Hour, was published in 2017.
Related Websites
- W. .W. Norton’s overview for Always Happy Hour
- Amazon review of Always Happy Hour
- New York Times Review of Last Days of California by Laurie Muchnick
- Mary Miller’s Tumblr
- Mary Miller’s Twitter
- The Rumpus Interview (Last Days of CA)
- Mostly Scary: An Interview with Mary Miller: http://lentmag.com/interview-with-mary-miller/
- Road Raptures: Mary Miller with Matt Bell: http://www.brooklynrail.org/2014/02/books/road-raptures
- Redbook Reads: Q&A with Mary Miller: http://www.redbookmag.com/health-wellness/advice/mary-miller-interview
- Largehearted Boy Book Notes (Last Days of CA): http://www.largeheartedboy.com/blog/archive/2014/01/book_notes_mary_3.html
- Southern Writing Lives Online: http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/9/4/southern-writinglivesonline.html
- Magic Helicopter Author Interview: http://magichelicopter.tumblr.com/post/52736235868/magic-helicopter-author-interview-mary-miller
- The Rumpus Interview (Big World): http://therumpus.net/2011/02/the-rumpus-interview-with-mary-miller/
- Big World: http://lunaparkreview.com/big-world-an-interview-with-mary-miller/
- Largehearted Boy Book Notes: http://www.largeheartedboy.com/blog/archive/2009/02/book_notes_mary.html
- Miller edits the blog I Read A Short Story Today.