#SPOTLIGHT ON M. SHELLY CONNOR

How did you come of age as an artist? How did you come to your current practice?

I've studied many forms in many places: stage writing with Second City and the Black Ensemble Theater; fiction in the Program for Writers at the University of Illinois at Chicago (where I received my PhD); and from other writers that I admire.

What was the inspiration for your OTV project?

Overcoming heartbreak and the role that queer communities play in healthy healing.

What's next for you or your series?

I'm working to secure funding to produce the rest of the series; querying literary agents about my novel everyman; and getting ready to start my new position as assistant professor of creative writing at the University of Central Arkansas.