Heal McKnight

Heal McKnight
(707) 826-5938
Founders Hall 146

I've taught at the college level since 2000 and it just keeps getting better: I love this work and I love my students' energy. Right now I teach several courses in creative writing, walking in the footsteps of influential writers and teachers like Lynda Barry, JoAnn Beard, Paul Diehl, and Felicia Rose Chavez. I'm interested in helping people make their best and most insightful work, and in stoking a long-term interest in writing. And I'm deeply committed to anti-racist teaching and community-building. I live in Arcata with my wife and our two kids. We ride our bikes everywhere.

Specialty Areas

Graphic memoir, nonfiction narrative, antiracist writing workshops.

Education

BA in English, Illinois Wesleyan University
MFA, Creative Nonfiction, University of Iowa

Courses Taught

English 211: Introduction to Creative Writing
English 314: Creative Writing: Nonfiction
English 316: Creative Writing: Poetry

Publications

"The Hard Part of Community College," in Brevity magazine (https://brevitymag.com/nonfiction/the-hard-part-of-community-college/), “Traffic.” PoemMemoirStory. No. 13 (Also named a Notable Essay of 2014 in Best American Essays 2014.), “ ‘The Most Annoying Assignment Ever’: Helping Composition Students Navigate New Vocabulary.” Teaching English in the Two-Year College. Vol. 37, No. 4, May 2010., “Other: Driving the Land In Between.” Brain, Child. Vol. 5, issue 3, Summer 2004.