Biography

My name is Denise Tolan.

I am a writer who believes what Virginia Woolf says is true: "On the outskirts of every agony sits some observant fellow who points."

​

I am a pointer. 
 

I love love love the novel Moby-Dick.

​

I love teaching English.

​

I also write both fiction and non-fiction. Check out some of my publications.

News and Stuff

Check out my new nonfiction work in Flock called Visiting Rena.

My work in Crack the Spine is called 

Mercury Rising.  

Upcoming Publications:

​​

• Penn Review  Fall 2021

​

​

My piece, "A Very Short History of Abuse," published in this anthology, was recently nominated for Best Short Fictions 2020!

Order a copy here!

Great Weather for Media

​

Denise's non fiction piece at Bodega , "Things That go Boom," was a finalist for the 2019 Penelope Niven International Literary Award

Click the Bodega link to read!!

Denise was a finalist for the Diane Woods Memorial nonfiction prize.

Read "Betrayed by Blood" in Lunch Ticket

Denise's piece in Lunch Ticket's Amuse-Bouche Spotlight, Because You are Dead, was selected for inclusion in 2018's Best Small Fictions.

Order 2018's Best Small Fictions.

​

 Story up at Queen Mob's Tea House. Enjoy!!

Newest piece out in Blue Mountain Review. Check it out here! https://issuu.com/collectivemedia/docs/bluemountainreviewjune2021

Publications and Awards

Fiction

​

Non-Fiction

• "Divisible by Two." Quirk Magazine (print only)
   

• "God Dumps Doug." Reed Magazine (print only)
   

• "Saying Goodbye to an Atheist." The Great American Literary Magazine (Nominated for the Best of the Web 2015)
   

• "Six o'Clock Mass." Empty Sink Publishing
   

• "Something Like a Man." Apple Valley Review
   

• "Mutually Miscible." Sleet Magazine
   

• "Finding the Pieces." Saturday Evening Post

Available on Amazon 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NBNDY19

• "Because You Are Dead." Lunch Ticket

Also available at Amazon in Best Small Fictions 2018
 

• "Mouth Open Wide." Hobart

​

• "The Terms of Archaeology " West Texas Literary Review

​

• "Obligations to the Lost"  Still Point Arts

​

• "Thank a Bad Girl"  Storyscape Journal

​​

• "Let's Call Him Pepe" The Raven's Perch

​

• "We Probably had Sex in Your Yard" The Airgonaut

​

• "How Would You Grieve Me?" Queen Mob's Tea House

​

• "A History of Tedium" Barren Magazine​

​

• "Mercury Rising"       Crack the Spine

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

• "Snake Light" The Tishman Review
   

• "Never Two Without the Three" Gravel

​

• "Divisible By Thirteen" Mojave River Review

​

• "Making Visible the Invisible" (Academic)
   

• "Interview with Kat Meads" Southern Lit Review

​​

• "Betrayed by Blood" Lunch Ticket

​

• "Malocchio" Santa Ana River Review

​​

• "Things That Go Boom" Bodega Magazine

​

• "A Very Short History of Abuse" Great Weather for Media 

Available on Amazon 

​

• "The Underside of Normal" Fugue 

• "Visiting Rena"  Flock

Awards

​​

• 2020 Nominated for Best Small Fictions by Great Weather For Media

• 2019 Finalist Arts for the People Chapbook Contest

• 2019 Finalist Palooka Press

• 2019 Longlist Ink Tears Short Story Contest

• 2019 International Literary Awards, Penelope Niven Prize in Nonfiction: finalist

• 2019 Gambling the Aisle Chapbook Prize: finalist 

• 2018 Diane Woods Memorial Award: finalist, non fiction

• 2018 The Best Small Fictions, Lunch Ticket: winner

• 2018 International Literary Awards, Penelope Niven Prize in Nonfiction: finalist

• 2018 Forge Fellowship: finalist

• 2017 Wigleaf’s Top 50, Apple Valley Review, long-listed

• 2017 River Styx Schlafly Beer Micro-Brew Micro-Fiction contest: semi Finalist

• 2017 Saturday Evening Post Fiction Contest: finalist

• 2016 Texas Observer Short Story contest: honorable mention

• 2016 SunStruck Magazine Creative nonfiction writing contest: winner

• 2015 Best of the Net, The Great American Lit Mag: nominee

• 2013 Glimmer Train’s Award for New Writers: honorable mention

• 2012 Glimmer Train's Very Short Fiction Award: finalist