The event will be held in 109 Grubbs Hall and is sponsored by the Distinguished Visiting Writers’ series – part of the English program – and the Student Fee Council. It is free and open to the public. A reception will follow.
Wortman’s collection includes both traditional length short stories and flash fiction.
“I tend to write longer pieces during more relaxed times in my life...But the choice between full-length and flash for me is also a matter of pacing and scope,” she said. “I can sometimes tell what form a piece will take in the first couple of paragraphs: flash narrows in fast and moves at a clip while full-length short fiction casts a wider net.”
She said she often has to write her way through a piece and acknowledges that “intensive editing can be a big part of finding the story’s true form.”
“I love Jenny Wortman’s stories! They are strange, sad, and funny. More important, Wortman is a writer wise to the perils of our fragile minds, which can be brought low by demons of mental health,” said author Steve Almond. “Mercy and imagination are our only hope. These stories have them in spades."
Author Erika Krouse noted that Wortman’s stories cover narrative territory such as depression, isolation, sexual relationships, and family dysfunction, pairing pain with the humor and joy of [her] fresh and inimitable style.
“This debut collection stuns and delights,” Krouse said.
“This. This. This. Is. Love. Love. Love.” was named the Westword Denver best new short story collection of 2020, the 2019 Foreword INDIES bronze winner for short stories, and a finalist for the Colorado Book Awards and the High Plains Book Awards.
Wortman’s work has appeared in many magazines including TriQuarterly, Hayden’s Ferry Review, DIAGRAM, Eectric Literature, Best small Fictions, W.W. Norton’s Flash Fiction American, and elsewhere, and has been cited as distinguished in Best American Short Stories.
She has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and MacDowell. She lives with her family in Colorado where she teaches at Lighthouse Writers Workshop and serves as associate fiction editor for Colorado Review.