Cara Diaconoff’s nomadic upbringing coincides with her love for travel and immersing herself in other people’s stories. As a new visiting assistant professor, she will help expand the department’s creative writing course offerings to include nonfiction and provide new outlets for student expression.

The author of a story collection, Unmarriageable Daughters, and two novels, I’ll Be a Stranger to You and Marian Hall, Diaconoff appreciates the difficulty of writing prose.

Diaconoff was inspired by tales her mother told about writers’ lives. Born in Indiana to graduate-student parents, she moved frequently with her family and followed in their footsteps as an adult.  Her travels led her to Russian colleges as a Peace Corps volunteer, and she later settled in Seattle.

She’s served as a visiting writer at Whitman College and lecturer at Texas Christian University and is now working on a book-length essay titled “On Crushing,” about women and unrequited love.

-Karen Nielsen