Andrew Wingfield

Andrew Wingfield's main interest as a writer and teacher is exploring the ways that people and places shape each other. He grew up east of Sacramento, California, in the bumpy transitional zone between the flat floor of the Central Valley and the steep slopes of the Sierra foothills. Like his 2005 novel, Hear Him Roar, much of his creative nonfiction deals with the human and environmental costs of the “development” that has denatured this home landscape dramatically over the past three decades. Andrew earned his B.A. in English from Rutgers University in 1988 and his M.A. in English literature from the University of Chicago in 1990. He did odd jobs and wrote awkward fiction in various cities—Bloomington, Madrid, Philadelphia—before enrolling in the creative writing program at George Mason University. After earning his M.F.A., Andrew joined the faculty of New Century College (NCC), the integrative studies program at George Mason. He is currently an Associate Professor at NCC, where he teaches courses on writing, conservation, and sustainability. He directs Mason's Environmental and Sustainability Studies degree program and co-directs the Sustainability Studies Minor. Andrew barely knew how to see until he started spending time with his wife, the painter Tania Karpowitz. In 2000, they bought and began renovating an old corner store building in a recovering neighborhood in Alexandria, Virginia. On the ground floor, where customers used to buy candy, beer, and cigarettes, the owners now struggle mightily with colors on canvas and words on the page. They live in the upstairs apartment with their two sons. Most of the stories in Andrew's 2010 collection Right of Way were suggested by sites, sounds and situations he encountered in the neighborhood.