Email me: annie.raab@gmail.com
Annie Raab
writer
fiction
creative nonfiction
art criticism
reviews
interviews
girl noir
Bio
Annie Raab earned a BFA from Kansas City Art Institute with a double major in Sculpture and Creative Writing, and an MFA in Fiction from Virginia Tech.
For more than a decade, her work has explored the confluence of art, writing, and the community. Her portfolio spans arts journalism, essays, criticism, reviews, and short stories. While she was trained as a fine artist, her skills are transferable to project development, grant applications and proposals, museum outreach, community engagement, and in generating materials for the greater artistic conversation.
A native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, her specialty is in covering the unique talents and spaces of the Midwest. She lives part-time on her sailboat, Nacreous.
Curriculum Vitae
Education
• MFA Virginia Tech, Fiction
• BFA Kansas City Art Institute, Sculpture; Creative Writing (double major)
Editorial & Staff Writing
• Fiction Editor: the minnesota review, 2020
• Managing Editor: The New River, 2020
• Arts Journalist: The Pitch, 2015-2018
• Board Member: Whispering Prairie Press, 2013-2015
• Senior Prose Editor, Kansas City Voices, 2013-2015
Awards & Recognition
• Virginia Tech Fiction Prize for “The Academy”, selected by Alyson Hagy, 2019
• Virginia Tech Creative Nonfiction Prize for “On Doubt”, selected by Brian Blanchfield, 2019.
• Nominated for AWP Intro Journals Project for essay “On Doubt”, 2019.
• “Victoria Park Found Dead at 45” shortlisted for the Unicorn Training Student Prize for New Media Writing, 2018.
• Second place winner of the Southampton Review Short Short Fiction Contest for "Once the Downs Empty", selected by Amy Hempel.
• “Survivors,” shortlisted in the quarterly fiction competition, TSS: The Short Story, 2016.
• “The Frayed Edge,” quarterly fiction contest honorable mention, On The Premises, 2016.
• Recipient of a Lighton International Artists Exchange Program (LIAEP) Grant, April, 2016.
• Guest juror for the visual art Student Citation Show at University of Central Missouri, 2016.
• Recipient of an ArtsKC Inspiration Grant, 2016.
Residencies & Workshops
• Southampton Review Writing Workshop with Amy Hempel, 2018
• Kenyon Review Writing Workshop with AJ Verdelle, 2018.
• Writer in residence at Art Farm, Marquette, Nebraska, 2017.
• Writer in residence at Green Olive Arts, Tétouan, Morocco, 2016.
In the classroom
• Creative Writing Instructor, Virginia Tech, 2021
• First Year Writing Instructor, Composition & Rhetoric, Virginia Tech, 2020-2021
• Writing Assistant, School of the New York Times, 2019-2020
• Creative Writing Teaching Assistant, Virginia Tech, 2019
•Writing Center Coach, Virginia Tech, 2019
• Writing Instructor, Business Writing, Virginia Tech, 2018
•Academic Support Specialist, Kansas City Art Institute, 2017-2018
•Pre-College Art Lab (PCAL) Creative Writing Instructor, Kansas City Art Institute
In the community
• Virginia Tech MFA reading showcase, 2019.
• Kenyon Review reading showcase, 2017.
• Critical Writing in KC panel participant at Weinberger Fine Arts, 2017.
• Kansas City Art Institute Panel Discussion panelist at the KCAI Crossroads Gallery, part of the “Life After KCAI” series, 2017.
• Writing Lab consultant at UMKC’s Artist INC Advance program, 2017.
• Presenter at Shelf Life, Unwanted Gifts, 2016.
• “Oh, How We’ve Failed,” KCTV 5 interview, 2016.
• 90.1 KKFI ArtSpeak Radio interview, A Month in Morocco: Women & Fiction, 2016.
Guest juror for the visual art Student Citation Show, University of Central Missouri, 2016.
• Presenter at A Common Sense Reading Series curated by Jordan Stempleman, 2015.
• 90.1 KKFI ArtSpeak Radio interview with Kansas City Voices, “Art of Kansas City Voices” exhibition, 2015.
• Co-curator of “Art of Kansas City Voices” at the Leedy-Volkus Art Center, 2015.
• Presenter at A Common Sense Reading Series curated by Jordan Stempleman, 2012.
Unique Skills
• Grant applications for the arts
• Residency proposals
• Arts development strategy
• Community outreach strategy
• Museum collaboration
• Student engagement
Selected Publications
• “Sonic Pleasures of The Deer,” Chicago Review of Books, August 2022.
• “Bluegills, Blue,” Cream City Review, Summer 2022.
• “(Re)Materializing Dread: An interview with Mayumi Lake and Stacia Yepanis,” Sixty Inches from Center, May 2022.
• “Rachel Harrison Assorted Varieties at Corbett vs Dempsey,” Chicago Artist Writers, January 7, 2022.
• “On Doubt.” New Reader Magazine, September 18, 2020.
• “The Guide,” Hello America, November 19, 2019.
• Interview with Rachel Haley Himmelheber, Ploughshares blog, February 26, 2019.
• “Unfortunately, the Book Continues to be Relevant: An interview with Erika Meitner,” Ploughshares blog, January 9, 2019.
• “Wide Range Through a Single Lens: An interview with Michael Dumanis of Bennington Review,” the minnesota review blog, November 29, 2018.
• “Once the Downs Empty,” TSR: The Southampton Review. Winter/Spring 2019 issue.
• “A Braided History of Socialism, Literacy, and Education,” the minnesota review blog, October 23, 2018.
• “The Artist,” Existere Journal, York University. Fall/Winter 2018 issue.
• “Inside a West Plaza bungalow, Open House is carving out a new, subversive space for art and community-building” The Pitch, 2018
• “Alter’s FOMO-factor parties are bad mothers,” The Pitch, 2018
• “Facing the Future: The Kemper’s thrilling show of Outwin portraits holds up a timely mirror,” The Pitch, December 1, 2017.
• “Art and the Crossroads of Kansas City,” Sculpture, September, 2017.
• “Kendell Harbin’s VHS safari hunts a very delicate species: memory,” The Pitch, November 20, 2017.
• “Ryan Wilkes pushes sex out of the shadows in his challenging, memorable Queerotica,” The Pitch, July 14, 2017.
• “KC’s LGBTQ community clears its throat—and learns to break a chokehold,” The Pitch, May 18, 2017.
• “At the Spencer, surprises from new Asian artists,” The Pitch, March 7, 2017.
• “State of the World at H&R Block Artspace, raises a hopeful flag,” The Pitch, February 14, 2017.
• “Roger Shimomura and Yuval Yairi map complex legacies in separate solo shows,” The Pitch, January 3, 2017.
• “Trey Hock, the bathroom selfie, and me,” The Pitch, December 20, 2016.
• “Charlotte Street’s bold, searching ¿Que Pasa USA? deserves to be answered,” The Pitch, December 20, 2016.
• “Erin Zona’s She Was Right is totally correct,” The Pitch, October 18, 2016.
• “Nick Cave’s Property at the Nelson is a must-see,” The Pitch, September 28, 2016.
• Essayist for gallery literature, Charlotte Street 2016 Artists Award Exhibition at Kemper Crossroads Gallery, September 2, 2016.
• “Dark Days, Bright Nights: Contemporary Paintings from Finland reveals warmth under the ice,” The Pitch, February 9, 2016.
• “Wendy Red Star poses haunting questions in Parading Culture at Haw,” The Pitch, February 9, 2016.
• “Front/Space’s Hot Hands fundraiser is a big deal for art spotters and collectors,” The Pitch, January 26, 2016.
• “The Empress’s New Clothes,” Informality Blog, September 14, 2015.