A. S. Kolendo

Place of birth:

• Kherson, Ukraine

Places I’ve studied: 

• Swarthmore College near Philadelphia
• Boston University, where I got my MFA

Places I’ve lived and worked:

• Moscow and Zheleznovodsk, in Russia, where I have family
• The suburbs of Baltimore, which, of the many Americas I now know, were my first
• Grenoble, France, where I spent a semester and learned how to cook and ski
• New York City, where I walked everywhere and saw far too many plays
• Ann Arbor, Michigan, where I became a Zingerman’s addict
• Lausanne, Switzerland, where every day is a thighs workout day
• Austin, Texas, where I am now still finishing a collection of stories and a novel

Jobs I’ve had (in no particular order):

• Test proctor
• Caterer
• Management consultant at McKinsey
• Translator
• Math tutor
• NIH research intern
• IT manager
• Watch sales person
• History researcher at Harvard
• Insurance telemarketer
• Library circulation clerk

Places I’ve Taught

• Swarthmore College (co-teaching)
• Boston University
• Austin Community College
• Central Texas schools, grades 3-8, through Badgerdog Literary Publishing

Things I’ve Written

• “Wintering,” in Best New American Voices 2009.
• Building for the Arts, co-authored with Peter Frumkin for the University of Chicago Press
• The Labyrinth, a novel about love and samizdat in Soviet Ukraine (in progress)