Publications

Books

Mothers of Sparta: A Memoir in Pieces (January 30, 2018). Essay collection, Flatiron Books, a division of Macmillan. Editor: Amy Einhorn.

Creative Nonfiction

"Migraine ft. The Migraine" - Raritan Quarterly, 2024.

“Little Hole,” Severance Magazine, November 2021.

"Creative Writing Academic Wiki," Showbear Family Circus, July 2021.

“Sinkhole” Alaska Quarterly Review 2021.

“Arrhythmia,” Contemporary Creative Nonfiction: An Anthology, edited by Debra Monroe, 2020.

“Music to Be Played If I Fall into a Coma,” McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, July 12, 2019.

“Arrhythmia,” The Missouri Review, Fall, 2018.

“The Dress,” Narrative Magazine, Feb 2017.

Mothers of Sparta,” Arts & Letters Journal, Fall, 2016.

“Birayshul,” Selected Memories: Our First Five Years, anthology published by Hippocampus Magazine, Fall, 2016.

“Soccer Mom,” Brain, Child Magazine, Summer, 2016.

“Keeping the Faith,” Chautauqua, June 2016.

“Contributors on Craft: Dawn S. Davies on Truth-Seeking and Audience Response,” The Missouri Review, February 2016.

“King of the World,” The Missouri Review, December 2015.

“One of the Girls,” Brain, Child Magazine, September 2015.

“Disquiet and the Lyric Essay,” Fourth Genre, Spring, 2016.

“Four Animals,” Blood and Thunder: Musings on the Art of Medicine, Fall, 2015.

“Fear of Falling,” HerStories Anthology, Summer, 2015.

“Unsolicited Child Training Tip #16: Benign Neglect,” Brain, Child Magazine, June 2015.

“Kicking the Snakes,” New Plains Review, Spring, 2015.

“Pie,” Fourth Genre, August 2015.

“Secrecy, Honesty, and Creative Nonfiction,” A companion essay to “Pie,” Fourth Genre, August 2015.

“Band-Aid Wrappers in the Bottom of the Bin: A Soliloquy,” Fourth Genre, January 2015.

“Sheep to the Cyclops,” Ninth Letter, Spring, 2015.

“Two Views of a Secret,” Saw Palm, February 2015.

“Birayshul,” Hippocampus Magazine, August 2014.

“Confessions of a Stay-at-Home Mother,” Brain, Child Magazine, July 2014.

“Don’t Like It Too Much,” River Styx, July 2014.

“Cologne,” River Teeth Journal’s “Beautiful Things” Column, May 2014.

Fiction

“Angels in the Architecture,” Cleaver, December 2018.

“Centaur,” Lunch Ticket Journal, June 2016.

“Anatomy,” The Texas Review, 2016.

“Rejection Wiki: An Amalgam,” The Offbeat Literary Journal, Michigan State University, 2016.

“Something Merciful,” Southern Gothic Revival Anthology, Twisted Road Publications, 2016.

“The Slattern,” The Austin Review, August 2015.

“Giver of Life,” Border Crossing, Spring, 2015.

“Tea Service for One,” Real South Magazine, July 2013.

Poetry

“Mailing a Letter.” Poetry Daily (poems.com) featured poem, 01/21/2020.

“Mailing a Letter,” New Ohio Review, Spring, 2019.

“An Awful Estrangement of Parts from the Whole,” Poetry Northwest, January 2019.

“Above Rubies,” Word Riot, May 2016.

“Punkin’,” Literary Orphans, Spring, 2015.

“Three Prose Poems about Listening to Music,” Cease, Cows, October 2014.

“The Logic of Anxiety,” Ten-Cent Journal, 2013.

Interviews/Features/Reviews

Unfinished Truths Podcast, September 2022.

Interview with Author Dawn Davies in Voices Above the Noise, Maria Shriver’s Sunday Paper, June 4, 2022.

Right to Know Webinar: Writing Your MPE/NPE Story, May 23, 2021.

NPE Stories Podcast, April 7, 2021.

The Best Book Ever Podcast, September 21, 2020.

Kenyon Review Podcast, Interview, Spring 2020.

WLRN Sundial Podcast, January 14, 2020.

WLRN South Florida Roundup, Radio Interview, November 2018.

Virginia Macgregor.com Review of Mothers of Sparta, April 2018.

Operation Awesome, Interview, April 2018.

Kveller.com, “Five Books Even Busy Moms Will Want to Read,” Featuring Mothers of Sparta, April 2018.

Sliver of Stone, review of Mothers of Sparta and interview, April 2018.

The Megyn Kelly Show, February 7, 2018.

The Associated Press, Review of Mothers of Sparta, by Tracee M. Harbaugh, January 29, 2018.

Booklist, Review of Mothers of Sparta, online and print 12/1/2017.

American Booksellers Association “Indies Introduces” Features Mothers of Sparta for Spring of 2018.

Kirkus, Review of Mothers of Sparta. Online 10/11/2017, print 11/1/2017.

Ploughshares, “The Best Short Story I Read in a Lit Mag this Week: “Punkin’” by Dawn S. Davies,” written by Ross McMeekin. August 8, 2015.

Border Crossing Magazine, “An Interview with Dawn S. Davies,” Summer, 2015.

The Austin Review, “Interview with Dawn S. Davies,” Fall, 2015.

Professional Experience

Freelance Writer and Writing Mentor

Help advanced memoir writers achieve their publication goals.

Provide developmental, content and line editing for academic writing and research, including dissertations, post-grad research and creative MFA theses.

Created web content, long-form blog posts with SEO, press releases, white papers, landing pages, sales funnels.

Ghostwrote and edited self-published books, POD books, eBooks, and marketing content for business professionals.

Wrote press releases, academic course content, and developed voice and brand for clients. 2004-present.

Florida International University

Instructor – Steven J. Green School of International Affairs—Analytical Writing and Presentation Skills (ISS 6387), Creative Writing Forms and Practices (CRW 3010) and Introduction to Literature (LIT 1000) 2016-2018, Writing and Rhetoric I and II (ENC 1101, ENC 1102). 2012-2015.

Miami Book Fair

Workshop Instructor – Creative Nonfiction and Flash Fiction workshops. 2016-present.

University of South Carolina Upstate

Instructor – Department of Languages, Literature, and Composition—Undergraduate writing and rhetoric (Beginning Composition). 2015.

Fiction Editor

Gulf Stream Literary Magazine. Managed staff of 12-25 readers and 600 fiction submissions per cycle. 2014-2015.

Assistant Fiction Editor. 2013-2014.

Staff reader. 2012-2013.

Graduate Coordinator

Writers on the Bay Reading Series, Florida International University, Miami, FL. Managed events, and social media of university literary readings open to the public, including the Lawrence Sanders Award, an event that draws over three hundred people. 2013-2015.

Teaching Assistant

Florida International University. Composition and Rhetoric (ENC 1101 and ENC 1102). 2012-2013.

Content Development Writer – Time4Learning

Developed web content and curriculum design for K-12 educational website. 2007-2009.

Contract Writer – Virtual Sage, FYI Online, and Kaplan

Developed and/or edited NCAA-approved online high school courses that targeted both full-time and part-time students for college prep and high school completion. Also developed and/or edited online college courses used by University of Miami Online High School. 2004-2007.

Catalog Copywriter – CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group

Wrote catalog marketing copy for hundreds of academic publications per year in the areas of mathematics, physics, chemistry, medicine, engineering, and other sciences. 2003-2005.

Awards, Achievements & Honors

Essay “Sinkhole” – Best American Essays “Notable Essay,” 2022.

Book Mothers of Sparta, Florida Book Award Gold Medal, 2019.

Book Mothers of Sparta, Great Lakes Colleges Association New Writers Award, 2019.

Book Mothers of Sparta, Indies Next List, February 2019, Paperback.

Book Mothers of Sparta, Indies Next List, February 2018.

Book Mothers of Sparta, Indies Introduces List, Spring 2018.

Essay “Keeping the Faith” – Best American Essays “Notable Essay,” 2017.

Winner of the 2016 Arts and Letters Susan Atefat Prize for Creative Nonfiction for essay, “Mothers of Sparta.”

Appomattox Regional Governor’s School Writer in Residence, Petersburg, VA, May 2016.

Essay “King of the World” – Best American Essays “Notable Essay,” 2016.

Essay “Don’t Like It Too Much” – Best American Essays “Notable Essay,” 2015.

Essay “Confessions of a Stay-at-Home Mom,” – Pushcart Prize Special Mention, 2015.

Essay “Disquiet and the Lyrics Essay” – Finalist in the 2105 Fourth Genre Steinberg Essay Contest, August 2015.

Short Story “Something Merciful” – Finalist for the New Millennium Writing Contest, June 2015.

Memoir Mothers of Sparta – Won Florida International University Provost Award for Graduate Student Outstanding Creative Project, 2015.

“Games I Play” (essay) – Won Florida International University’s Graduate Student Literature Award for Nonfiction, 2015.

“Mothers of Sparta” (essay) – Finalist for SLS Disquiet Literary Contest, scholarship to writer’s conference in Lisbon, Portugal, 2015.

“Three Places” – Won Florida International University’s Graduate Student Literature Award for Nonfiction, 2013.

“Three Places” – Won the Kentucky Women Writers Conference Gabehart Award for Nonfiction, September 2013.

“How to Be a Crappy Mother” – Finalist the Tucson Festival of Books Fiction Contest, 2013

“Giver of Life” – Finalist for the Arcadia Fiction Chapbook Contest, October 2014.

“Confessions of a Stay-at-Home Mom” – nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Fall, by Brain, Child Magazine, 2014.

“Confessions of a Stay-at-Home Mom” – Editors’ Pick by Brain, Child Magazine, 2014.

“Birayshul” – voted “Most Notable 2014” by Hippocampus Magazine, 2014.

Education

Florida International University Miami, FL - 2012-2015 - MFA in Creative Writing, Creative Nonfiction, Thesis: Mothers of Sparta, memoir.

Vermont College of Fine Arts Montpelier, VT - 1997-2000 - BA in Liberal Arts, concentration in Creative Writing and Literary Criticism.

Teaching & Academic Experience

Instructor, English Department Anderson University, Anderson, SC 2024-present.

Mentor, Speak Up, The Miami Book Fair, 2023.

Instructor, “Writing About Family Without Making Them Hate You, Miami Book Fair, 2022.

Instructor, “The List Essay,” Miami Book Fair, 2022.

Instructor, “Creating Persona in Memoir,” Miami Book Fair, 2021.

Instructor, “Writing Motherhood,” a six-month intensive for advanced memoirists, 2020-present.

Conference Presenter, “Voice and Tone in Memoir,” Writers in Paradise Writer’s Workshop, 2019.

Instructor, “Introduction to Literature,” at Florida International University, 2017-2019.

Instructor, “Analytical Writing and Presentation,” for the Master’s in Global Affairs Program at Florida International University. 2016.

Conference Presenter, Flagler College “Humor in Creative Nonfiction” workshop, November 2016.

Instructor, creative nonfiction and high school flash fiction workshops for The Center for Writing and Literature, Miami Dade College, 2016.

Presenter for Appomattox Regional Governor’s High School: “Advanced Fiction Workshop,” and “Voice and Persona in Creative Nonfiction,” 2016.

English 101, University of South Carolina Upstate, 2015.

Editing and Publishing, (CRW 5934), Fiction Editor Gulf Stream Literary Magazine – managed staff of assistant editors and fiction readers, teaching first-year graduate students how to evaluate fiction for publication, 2012-2015.

Fiction Workshop, CRW2001, Ran fiction workshops for CRW 2001 class, 2014.

Teaching College Composition (ENG 6937), learned basics of rhetorical composition theory and its application to writing pedagogy. Florida International University, 2013.

Teaching Assistant in ENC 1102, Writing & Rhetoric II, Florida International University, blended traditional class, and online, 2013.

Teaching Assistant in ENC 1101, Writing & Rhetoric I, Florida International University, 2012.

Appearances, Residencies & Guest Lectures

Hope College Visiting Writers Series Guest, GLCA, March 2020.

St. Mark’s School of Texas Literary Festival, Nonfiction Presenter, January 2020.

Boulder Writing Studio, “Writing Motherhood” Workshop, Boulder, CO, December 2019.

Kenyon College Visiting Writer Series Guest, GLCA, November 2019.

Albion College Visiting Writer Series Guest, GLCA, November 2019.

Helen B. Hoffman Library Fundraiser – Keynote Speaker, March 2019.

Writers in Paradise Literary Conference, Eckerd College, Lecturer, January 2019.

WLPG Local10 News, Miami, Special Projects Feature, November 2018.

WLRN, “South Florida Roundup” Radio Show, November 16, 2018.

The Miami Bookfair, “Modern Family” panelist, November 17, 2018.

BookFest St. Louis, Memoir Panelist, September 2018.

Sandhill Writers Retreat, St. Leo University, Nonfiction Faculty, May 2018.

The Megyn Kelly Show, Guest, March 22, 2018.

The Megyn Kelly Show, Guest, February 7, 2018.

Other Words Literary Conference, Florida Literary Arts Coalition, Guest Speaker, May 2017.

ARGS Writer in Residence, Appomattox Regional Governor’s School, Spring, 2015.

Florida International University Student Literary Awards, Writers on the Bay Reading Series, FIU

Miami, Florida, April 2013, April 2015.

Vermont Studio Center, Residency with stipend, 2014.

Can Serrat, International Residency with stipend, 2014.

Kentucky Women Writers Conference, Gabehart Award Winner Reading, Lexington, Kentucky, September 2013.

Magazine Editing

Fiction Editor, Gulf Stream Magazine, 2014-2015.

Fiction Editor, Print-Oriented Bastards, 2013-2015.

Assistant Fiction Editor, Gulf Stream Literary Magazine, 2013-2014.

Staff Reader, Gulf Stream Literary Magazine, 2012-2013.