Dawn Major has a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from Reinhardt University, a Creative Writing Certification from Emory Continuing Education, and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Kennesaw State University. She is a recent recipient of a mentorship through the Horror Writers Association. Her published work may be found in Five Points-A Journal of Literature and Art, Sediments Literary-Arts Journal, Sanctuary Journal, and Family Life Publications. Her creative non-fiction piece, “White Trash,” won the 2019 Driscoll Award for Excellence in Writing and her fiction piece, “Nativity,” won 2019 Faculty Choice Award, also for Excellence in Writing. In 2018, she was awarded a fellowship as the assistant literary editor of the James Dickey Review.
In 2019, she served as a panel judge at the Milton Literary Festival-Young Adults Contest. She has done readings with American Sign Language Interpreters as well as a musical program collaboration with musicians which was performed at the Falany Performing Arts Center at Reinhardt University’s Contemporary Arts Festival. She has done Reader’s Theater at Reinhardt University’s Black Box Theatre. She was a presenter at Georgia State University’s 2019 New Voice Graduate Conference where she discussed the methodology and treatment of the supernatural in the works of William Gay. She collaborated with Oakland Cemetery for its Sunday in the Park event for which she wrote scripts for a living history project where the ghostly residents came to life to tell their stories. She has written poetry-themed radio scripts which aired on Album 88, college radio, and she has appeared on NPR- Dante’s Old South. She has also lectured and taught in literature and creative writing workshops.
She recently finished her first novel, titled The Bystanders, an adult collection of interconnected short stories linked together by theme, town, and characters. She is seeking publication of this work while simultaneously working on a literary horror novel titled, A Dark Coincidence, also a collection of short stories organized by theme and structured within a frame narrative. She is a member of Atlanta Writers Club and actively participates in annual writing conferences and critique groups. Work is forthcoming with the James Dickey Review in 2020.
