​Education:

M.F.A.
Fiction and Nonfiction
Words Without Walls Graduate Assistant
Concentration in Travel Writing
May 2013
Chatham University, Pittsburgh, PA

B.A.
Mass Communication and Creative Writing
May 2008
Loyola University, New Orleans, LA

Teaching Experience:

Instructor and Owner, New Orleans Writers Workshop

• Teach 9-week workshops in the fall, spring, and summer to adults in various locations, including the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, Unitarian Universalist Church of New Orleans, the New Orleans Healing Center, and more. 

Instructor, Project Lazarus Wellness University, Summer 2013 to Present

• Teach 8-week courses in the fall, spring and summer.  Different themes from memoir to place-based writing, with a focus on improving literacy skills among adult students.

Instructor, Humanities: Orleans Parish Prison Education, Fall 2013 to Present

• Guest lecturer in Creative Writing and basic communication and storytelling.

 Instructor, VoiceCATCH Writing Workshops, Chatham University, 2012-2013

• Weekly creative writing workshops with adults age 18 to 75, Spring 2013

Instructor, Adult Writing Workshops, Allegheny County Jail , 2013-2013

• Fiction and Nonfiction Writing related to Home, Spring 2013
• Fiction Writing, Fall 2012
• The Monologue, Spring 2012

Associate Director, NOLA Green Roots, 2012

• Held dozens of chicken and planting workshops and other educational sessions with youth in the community and hundreds  of volunteers from all over the world

Orientation Organizer, Loyola University New Orleans, 2009-2010 

• Conducted orientation for new students entering the Master of Nursing in Healthcare Administration Program each semester.

Higher Education Experience:
Professor of Record, Supplemental Instruction, Chatham University , 2011-2012

• Created 35 student-specific writing curriculums
• Saw a 98 percent letter grade improvement in student writing outcomes
• Conducted research on how to better prepare high school students to tackle their freshman year of college

Federal Grant Administrator, Loyola University New Orleans, 2009-2010

• Worked closely with two senior professors to extend and administrate two, multi-million dollar HRSA grants, used one of the grants to fund and execute a 33,000-dollar conference, helped develop the first nursing doctoral program in the region, and conducted orientation for new students entering the Master of Nursing in Healthcare Administration Program each semester.

Fiction in Periodicals:
"Pal." Phoebe Journal. (Winter 2018).
"Somewhere, Out There." Entropy. (October, 2018).
"Net." Fiction Southeast. (October, 2014).
“Drawbridge.” Southern Humanities Review. (October, 2013).
“Chess Over Royal Street, a love story.” Juked  (February 12, 2013): online.
“Bone on Bone.” The Cossack Review (Winter 2012): 3-6.
“Breaststroke.” Pif Magazine. (April, 2011): online.

Fiction in Anthologies:
“Breaststroke.” Best of Pif Anthology. 

 Creative Writing Craft and Pedagogy:
“The Only Story I Have.” Loyola University New Orleans English Department Newsletter. (April 2012.)

Nonfiction Clips:
Kinnison, Jessica. "Robert Hillary King of Angola 3: Surving 29 Years in Solitary Confinement." www.gimundo.com. Hawkins Multimedia, LLC, 13 Jan. 2012. Web. 10 Jan. 2013.
Kinnison, Jessica. “Circus Love: Rebecca Rebouche Nation.” ArtVoices Issue 12 (2009): 7. Print.
Kinnison, Jessica. "Radical Faith." Jackson Free Press 14th ser. 7 (2008): 14-24. Print.

More Nonfiction Publications:
Jackson Free Press (Jackson, Mississippi, 2003-2010)
ARTVOICES MAGAZINE (New Orleans, LA, 2008-2009)
THE TRUMPET (New Orleans, LA, 2007-2008)
VOIX DU VIEUX (New Orleans, LA, 2006)
Leo Laporte’s 2005 Mac Gadget Guide (National, 2005)
THE CLARION LEDGER (Jackson, MS, 2003-2004)

Grant Portfolio:

Broadway Cares 2013-2019
Macy's Grant 2013-2019
Ryan White Grant 2013-2019
HOPWA Grant 2013-2019
Awesome Foundation Good Idea Winner September 2012
Green Thumb Challenge July 2011
Brown Foundation July 2011
Home Depot June 2011
Lowe’s June 2011
LUSH Cosmetics Grant June 2011
DoSomething.org Youth Service Grant June 2011
Jenny Jones Foundation June 2011
Entergy May 2011
Fueling Good April 2011
Whole Foods 5% Day April 2011

Awards:

Tennessee Williams Festival, 2018

• Short Short Fiction Contest, second place

Pushcart Prize Nomination, 2012

• Nominated for my story “Bone on Bone” by Cossack Review

Southwest Theatre and Film Association Award, 2008

• Play “Baby” won the 2008 Southwest Theatre and Film Association’s Ten Minute Play Contest

Scholarly Interests:

Teaching
Fiction Writing; Flash Fiction; Poetry; Creative Nonfiction; Lyric Essay; Hybrid Forms; African American Literature; Prison and Jail Culture; Community Outreach Writing Programs; American Literature; Magical Realism; Music and Literature; The Gothic tradition; Ecocritical Shakespeare

Research
Differences in gender needs and trauma in jail and prison culture; Creative Nonfiction; Fiction Writing; Hybrid Forms of Writing; Music in Literature; Disaster Theory; Critical Theory; Ecocritical Theory

Workshops & Conferences:

Artists Guild Bootcamp, presenter, New Orleans, January 2019
Kenyon Writers Conference, July 2018
AWP Conference, February 2012-2017, presenter
Bridges to Other Worlds Conference, Chatham University, Feb. 2013
Panelist, "Making the Case for Community Outreach/Service as a Part of the MFA Experience." AWP Conference, March 2013
Bridges to Other Worlds Conference, Chatham University, Oct. 2011
Nonfiction Workshop with Philip Lopate October 2011

Editorial Experience
Assistant Editor, Fourth River, Chatham University Fall 2011
Assistant Editor, New Orleans Review, Loyola University New Orleans 2006-2008

Other
Study Abroad in Vietnam: Chatham University, April-May 2012
Independent Journey: Camino to Santiago de Compostela, July 2010 and August 2011
Student Exchange in Italy: Jackson Preparatory School, April 2004

Works in Progress: 
Net :  A 150-pg. manuscript of flash fiction and a novel entitled Jubilee exploring relationships between land and water and the colonization of both. Seeking publication.

References
Available upon request.