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Nebraska Authors

Timothy Schaffert

Born 1968 Aurora, NE (USA)

Schaffert grew up on a farm in Hamilton County, Nebraska. He was Professor of English at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, but more recently, Professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Schaffert is known as the founder and organizer of the Omaha Literature Fest as well as director of the Nebraska Summer Writers' Conference. He is a critically acclaimed novelist who has been reviewed in The New York Times for his Devils in the Sugar Shop which was a 2007 New York Times Sunday Book Review Editor's Choice selection. He received a grant from the Plains Humanities Alliance to put materials from the 1898 Trans-Mississippi Exposition online (2012). His 2014 novel, Swan Gondola, takes the Trans-Mississippi Exposition for its setting. Schaffert's 2003 novel The Phantom Limbs of the Rollow Sisters is currently in development as a feature film.

Places Lived

Hamilton County, Nebraska
Lincoln, NE
Omaha, NE
Tucson, AZ
Brooklyn, NY
Bloomington, IL

Author Of

  • Fiction
  • Journalism
  • Nonfiction

Keywords

Novels; Short Stories, Reviews, Feature Articles; Nebraska Subjects

Education

Bachelor of Arts Degree, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE
Master of Fine Arts Degree, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

Occupation

College Professor
Editor
Digital Development and Online Editor at Prairie Schooner

Places Worked

The Reader, Omaha, NE
Prairie Schooner
University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE
University of Nebraska-Omaha, Omaha, NE

Honors

2 Nebraska Arts Council Fellowships
Henfield/Transatlantic Review Award
John H. Ames Reading Series, Featured Reader, 20 March 2003
Mary Roberts Rinehart Award, 2003, Nebraska Book Award For Fiction
Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers award for his The Singing and Dancing Daughters of God. 2005
Nebraska Arts Council award, 2007
Nebraska Arts Council 2012 Distinguished Award
Nebraska 150 Books honor for The Swan Gondola, 2017
Nebraska Book Award for The Perfume Thief, 2022

Associations

Downtown Omaha Literature Fest (Inaugural, 2005)

Bibliography

The Phantom Limbs of the Rollow Sisters. 2002.
The Singing and Dancing Daughters of God. 2005.
John H. Ames Reading Series, Featured Reader. 2003. (DVD)
John H. Ames Reading Series, Featured Reader. 2003. (Video Tape)
Devils in the Sugar Shop. 2007.
The Coffins of Little Hope. 2011.
The Swan Gondola. 2014.
The Perfume Thief. 2021.

In October 2016, Timothy Schaffert participated with other authors in an Ames Reading Series program, which can be viewed here:

Schaffert's March 2003 Ames Reading Series appearance can be viewed here:

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Timothy Schaffert
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(e.g. Author is buried in Fremont, not in David City / Also wrote for the Daily Nebraskan during her time as a student)