Episode Two: Emily Heiden
A Doctor of Nonfiction—Trolls and Gatekeepers—Girls Rule, and Boys…Have A Lot of Confidence—Embarrassing First Releases—MFA Mentors—Oh Yeah, and Funding

Emily Heiden is a PhD student in literary nonfiction at the University of Cincinnati. She holds an MFA in creative nonfiction from George Mason University and a Master of Arts in Teaching from the University of Iowa. Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Hartford Courant, Juked Magazine, Brevity Magazine, Colorado Review, and The Long River Review. Her Literary Hub essay “The Abortion Clinic That Wasn’t” was selected as a Staff Favorite in June 2018. She was recently interviewed by NPR about reproductive rights. This past summer, she served as Editorial Fellow for the Jewish Book Council in Manhattan, and still reviews nonfiction and poetry for the council. In addition to teaching and writing, she volunteers with women’s rights groups. You can follow her on Twitter.
Read Emily’s Work Here
“The Abortion Clinic That Wasn’t”
Emily’s Picks
May Cause Love: A Memoir, Kassi Underwood
Poor Your Soul: A Memoir, Mira Ptacin
My Body Is a Book of Rules, Elissa Washuta
Notes
- University of Cincinnati, PhD in Creative Writing
- Reading Year Reading List
- Blowback
- The Kiss: A Memoir by Kathryn Harrison
- Loose Girl: A Memoir of Promiscuity by Kerry Cohen
- Mommy Factory on Abortion
- Happy Abortions: Our Bodies in the Era of Choice by Erica Millar
- Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover
- Priestdaddy: A Memoir by Patricia Lockwood
- Statistics
- Shrill by Lindy West
- Girls rule, and boys…have a lot of confidence?
- If you aren’t embarrassed by your first release, you released too late.
- Kyoko Mori
- Kristen Iversen
- Full Body Burden: Growing Up in the Nuclear Shadow of Rocky Flats by Kristen Iversen
- Jo Ann Beard
- Oh yeah, funding.
- AWP Panel One
- AWP Panel Two