November 2001 University Reporter

The UMass Boston community appointed Askold Melnyczuk as a new assistant professor in the English Department. His stories, poems, and reviews have appeared in The Antioch Review, The Boston Globe, The New York Times, and The Nation. He has taught at Harvard University, Emerson College, and Boston University, where he founded the highly regarded literary journal AGNI.

When asked what brought him to the university, Melnyczuk said he wanted to focus on writing and teaching, with the impetus of both feeding the other. He also felt that he had nurtured AGNI long enough and that it was time to relinquish the reins and allow it to evolve. He was intrigued by the diversity of UMass Boston’s students and has found they exhibit abundantly the desire to learn, absorb, and excel. While teaching “Advanced Fiction Writing” and “Introduction to Creative Writing,” he relishes the opportunity to interact with students of varied interests and abilities in classes that, according to Melnyczuk, “represent the writer’s spectrum from a dip of the toe to a complete immersion in the waters.”

Counterpoint Press recently published his second book, Ambassador of the Dead, a tale about friendship, old ties, and the trials of Ukrainian immigrants attempting to assimilate into a foreign culture after a lifetime of violence and heartache. Melnyczuk lives in Medford with his wife, who also writes professionally.

-Sarah Oktay-Quigley

English Department Welcomes Fiction Writer Askold Melnyczuk