Misha Rai is the 2018-2021 Kenyon Review Fellow in Prose. Nominated for the 2018 Shirley Jackson Award for an excerpt from her novel-in-progress, she has been awarded fellowships and scholarships from the MacDowell Colony, Virginia Colony of the Creative Arts, The Dana Award in the novel category, and the Woodrow Wilson Dissertation Fellowship in Women’s Studies. She has also been a 2016-2017 Edward H. and Mary C. Kingsbury Fellow and the recipient of the 2015 George M. Harper Award.
Rai's work often focuses on transnational stories, political and historical fiction, literary suspense, exile, and grapples with the unsettling realities of displacement and memory. Her prose has appeared in a number of journals.
She was born in Sonipat, Haryana, and brought up in India.
At Kenyon, Rai has taught three multi-genre classes with two focusing on fiction, nonfiction and poetry and one focusing on television writing, comic book art and poetry.
Areas of Expertise
Fiction, the history of the novel, the political and transnational novel.
Education
2017 — Doctor of Philosophy from Florida State University
2012 — Master of Fine Arts from Bowling Green St Univ Bwlng Gr
2004 — Master of Arts from University of Leicester, UK
2002 — Bachelor of Journalism from University of Delhi, India
Courses Recently Taught
ENGL 200
Introduction to Fiction Writing
ENGL 200
This course introduces students to the elements of fiction writing. While each section of the course will vary in approach and structure, activities and assignments may include intensive reading, workshops, writing, short and flash fiction, and exercises emphasizing various aspects of fiction such as place, dialogue and character. Students should check the online schedule for specific descriptions of each section. Admission to this course is open, though students may not take this course in the first semester of their first year. Seats are reserved for students in each class year. Offered every year.
ENGL 205
Creative Writing: A Multi-Genre Workshop
ENGL 205
This open-enrollment, multi-genre writing course will give students the opportunity to develop as creative writers and readers through a series of writing assignments and workshops. In addition to poetry and short fiction, areas of focus may include creative essay, playwriting, screenwriting and multimedia works. Students will conclude the course by revising and polishing a selection of their original work as a final portfolio. This class will be limited to 15 students, with seats reserved for each class year. Students may not take this course in the first semester of their first year.
ENGL 391
ST: Novella Writing
ENGL 391
ENGL 493
Individual Study
ENGL 493
Individual study in English is a privilege reserved for senior majors who want to pursue a course of reading or complete a writing project on a topic not regularly offered in the curriculum. Because individual study is one option in a rich and varied English curriculum, it is intended to supplement, not take the place of, coursework, and it cannot normally be used to fulfill requirements for the major. An IS will earn the student 0.5 units of credit, although in special cases it may be designed to earn 0.25 units. To qualify to enroll in an individual study, a student must identify a member of the English department willing to direct the project. In consultation with that faculty member, the student must write a one-to two page proposal for the IS that the department chair must approve before the IS can go forward. The chair’s approval is required to ensure that no single faculty member becomes overburdened by directing too many IS courses. In the proposal, the student should provide a preliminary bibliography (and/or set of specific problems, goals and tasks) for the course, outline a specific schedule of reading and/or writing assignments, and describe in some detail the methods of assessment (e.g., a short story to be submitted for evaluation biweekly; a thirty-page research paper submitted at course’s end, with rough drafts due at given intervals). Students should also briefly describe any prior coursework that particularly qualifies them for their proposed individual studies. The department expects IS students to meet regularly with their instructors for at least one hour per week, or the equivalent, at the discretion of the instructor. The amount of work submitted for a grade in an IS should approximate at least that required, on average, in 400-level English courses. In the case of group individual studies, a single proposal may be submitted, assuming that all group members will follow the same protocols. Because students must enroll for individual studies by the seventh class day of each semester, they should begin discussion of their proposed individual study well in advance, preferably the semester before, so that there is time to devise the proposal and seek departmental approval before the established deadline.
JAPN 493
IS: Studying Manga
JAPN 493
This course offers an opportunity to study on an individual basis an area of special interest — literary, cultural or linguistic — under the regular supervision of a faculty member. It is offered primarily to candidates for honors, to majors and, under special circumstances, to potential majors and minors. Individual study is intended to supplement, not to take the place of, regular courses in the curriculum of each language program. Staff limitations restrict this offering to a very few students. To enroll in an individual study, a student must identify a member of the MLL department willing to direct the project and, in consultation with them, write up a one page proposal for the IS which must be approved by the department chair before the individual study can go forward. The proposal should specify the schedule of reading and/or writing assignments and the schedule of meeting periods. The amount of work in an IS should approximate that required on average in regular courses of corresponding levels. It is suggested that students begin their planning of an IS well in advance, so that they can devise a proposal and seek departmental approval before the registrar's deadline. Typically, an IS will earn the student 0.25 or 0.50 units of credit. At a minimum, the department expects the student to meet with the instructor one hour per week. Because students must enroll for individual studies by the end of the seventh class day of each semester, they should begin discussion of the proposed individual study preferably the semester before, so that there is time to devise the proposal and seek departmental approval before the registrar’s deadline.