Paula Whyman
Paula Whyman is the author of YOU MAY SEE A STRANGER, a linked story collection that won praise from The New Yorker and a starred review in Publishers Weekly. Paula has been awarded the 2017 Towson Prize for Literature. She was selected for “Best of 2016” lists including Chicago Review of Books and the first-ever Poets & Writers Magazine “5 Over 50” list. Paula’s writing has appeared in McSweeney’s Quarterly, Ploughshares, VQR, The Washington Post, and on NPR’s All Things Considered. A music theater piece based on a story from her book is in development with composer Scott Wheeler. Paula has taught in writers-in-schools programs through the Pen/Faulkner Foundation in Washington, DC, and The Hudson Review in Harlem and the Bronx, New York. She is a fellow of MacDowell and Yaddo, and vice president of the MacDowell Fellows Executive Committee. Paula is founding editor of Scoundrel Time, the online journal where artists and writers resist threats to freedom through creative works. She lives near Washington, DC, where she is working on a novel.
Works

YOU MAY SEE A STRANGER
"Whyman’s debut is an honest and sharply observed linked story collection, spanning the life of Miranda Weber from her teens through her late 40s... Themes of love, sex, politics, and family run through the collection, and every detail has satisfying echoes later on. Together, these smart, artful stories capture a woman’s life and the moments that define her." Publishers Weekly, Starred Review
Awards and Recognition
- 2019 Individual Artist Award, Maryland State Arts Council
- 2017 Towson Prize for Literature
- Fellowship, The MacDowell Colony
- Fellowship, The Corporation of Yaddo
- Vice President, The MacDowell Colony Fellows Executive Committee
- Artist-in-Residence, The Studios of Key West
- Special Mention, Pushcart Prize Anthology, 2014, for "You May See a Stranger"
- Individual Artist Award, Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County
Press and Media Mentions
- The New Yorker, Briefly Noted review, YOU MAY SEE A STRANGER
- NBC-NY Bill's Books "Hot Summer Reads," YOU MAY SEE A STRANGER
- Publishers Weekly starred review, YOU MAY SEE A STRANGER
- Shelf Awareness interview, Book Brahmin/A Writers Life
- Literary Hub excerpt from YOU MAY SEE A STRANGER
- Salon interview with Teddy Wayne for YOU MAY SEE A STRANGER
- Large-Hearted Boy Book Notes column/Music playlist for YOU MAY SEE A STRANGER
- Interview with Caroline Leavitt about YOU MAY SEE A STRANGER
- Fiction Writers Review interview with Melissa Scholes-Young
- Bloom interview for YOU MAY SEE A STRANGER
- YOU MAY SEE A STRANGER named Publishers Weekly Pick of the Week/Big Debut
- Announcement of YOU MAY SEE A STRANGER story collection deal, Publishers Marketplace (subscriber only)