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Amanda Ellard

Amanda Ellard, portrait
Graduate Student
Ellis 350, Athens Campus

Doctoral student, concentration in Creative Writing

Education

Master of Arts in English concentrated in Folklore Studies from George Mason University, 2023 — Thesis titled "Chinese Danmei Webnovels: Translation Lockdowns, Masculinity, and Community-Building"

Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Stetson University, 2022 — Thesis titled "Reversing Fire," a fiction novel, with a critical forward titled "When the Prison Talks Back and Fire Isn't for Burning the Past: Manufacturing Characters, Painting Worlds, and Exploring Identity"

Bachelor of Arts double majored in Editing, Writing, and Media and Japanese Language and Culture from Florida State University, 2016

Scholarly Focus

  • Queer and speculative fiction
  • Digital folklore
  • Web literature
  • Fandom studies

Publications

"2170" - speculative fiction short story, appeared in Anastamos literary journal

"Sound of Too Late" - lyrical flash fiction, appeared in Storyscape Literary Journal

"Mom and Dad's Key West Photos" - flash fiction, appeared in The Walled City Journal

"Maybe Get a Cup of Coffee Together" - flash fiction, appeared in The Walled City Journal

"When Escaping Reality Helps Define Identity: Expression and Empowerment in the Cosplay Community" — article appeared in the Smithsonian Center for Folklife & Cultural Heritage's Folklife Magazine

"Sleeping on a Bench" - fiction novella, no longer in contract

Positions

Storyteller Intern for the Smithsonian Center for Folklife & Cultural Heritage's Folklife Magazine

Former Editorial Assistant for the Journal of American Folklore: A Global Quarterly (2021-2023)

Awards

The Margaret Yocom Folklore Prize for the best student paper in folklore studies, 2023

Courses Taught

51ÉçÇø- ENG 1510 Writing & Rhetoric I

George Mason University- INTS 249 Digital Literacy, a guest lecturer on podcast and video editing