About
Paula Whyman’s new book, MAD LAND: REDISCOVERING THE WILD, ONE FIELD AT A TIME, is forthcoming from Timber Press. It’s a combination memoir, natural history, and chronicle of her attempts to restore retired farmland to natural habitat. Her first book, the linked short story collection YOU MAY SEE A STRANGER, won praise from The New Yorker, a starred review in Publishers Weekly, and the Towson Prize for Literature. Whyman was selected for “Best of 2016” lists including Chicago Review of Books and the first-ever Poets & Writers Magazine “5 Over 50” list. Her writing has appeared in McSweeney’s Quarterly, Ploughshares, VQR, The Hudson Review, The Washington Post, and on NPR’s All Things Considered. She is a fellow of MacDowell, Yaddo, VCCA, and The Studios of Key West, and vice president of the MacDowell Fellows Executive Committee. She was recently awarded a 2022 Creativity Grant by the Maryland State Arts Council to support work on Mad Land. Whyman is co-founder and editor in chief of the online literary journal, Scoundrel Time.
Featured Work
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
Other Works
Awards and Recognition
- 2022 Creativity Project Grant, Maryland State Arts Council
- 2019 Individual Artist Award, Maryland State Arts Council
- 2017 Towson Prize for Literature
- Fellowship, MacDowell
- Fellowship, The Corporation of Yaddo
- Vice President, MacDowell Fellows Executive Committee
- Artist-in-Residence, The Studios of Key West
- Tennessee Williams Scholar, Sewanee Writers Conference
- 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)