Stories & Articles

Fiction, Essays & Satire

"Three Wishes,"  creative nonfiction, appeared in Hunger Mountain Review, summer 2023

Excerpt from The Ringer: A Novel in the anthology Reading Colorado: A Literary Road Guide, edited by Peter Anderson, Bower House, May 2023.

"Comeback," short fiction, in the anthology Love In The Time of Time's Up, edited by Christine Sneed, Tortoise Press, October 2022.

"Falling Back," creative nonfiction, The Assignment, May 2022.

"Lucia Berlin: My Mentor in Being an Outsider," creative nonfiction, Poets & Writers, November/December 2021

"The Sit-In," short fiction, Santa Monica Review, April 2021

"The shooting at my King Soopers also destroyed a haven of warmth and inclusion," The Washington Post, March 26, 2021

"Playing Graveyard," creative nonfiction, The Cincinnati Review, March 2021

"Remember Me, Your Travel Coffee Mug?" The Museum of Americana, February 2021

"Hockey Forever, or for as Long as it Lasts," The Missouri Review, September 2020

An Irish Blessing for 2019, McSweeney's Internet Tendency, March 2019

I’m Doing a Reverse Marie Kondo on My Life: The government shutdown is forcing me to pare back the things that give me joy, The Atlantic, January 2019

"L'Homme de ma Vie," Barrelhouse, Issue 15, April 2016; received "Special Mention" in the 2018 Pushcart Prize anthology.

"How Did We Do?" The Toast, March 2016

"La Sexycana," Printer's Row, Chicago Tribune, June 2015

"At This Fondue Restaurant, the Word is Romance," The Rumpus, May 2015

"I Met A Blind Priest At the Airport. How Father Ted Taught Me to Take A Leap of Faith," Washington Post, March 2015

"Brad's Post-Disaster Community Newsletter," The Toast, September 2014

"I Produce Sex-Drenched Uptempo Club Bangers for Moms at 6 AM Boot Camp Classes," McSweeney's Internet Tendency, July 2014

"No Longer A Cowtown," Offline, February 2014

"Signing for Linemen," Five Chapters, January 2014, nominated for the Pushcart Prize

"Colorado Consolations," Proximity, January 2014

"Tumbleweed Letter," McSweeney's, October 2013

"Notes on A Thousand Year Flood," The Atlantic, September 2013

"Denver, Colorado: City of Mile-High Delights," The Guardian, July 2013

"Welcome to My Nanobrewery," McSweeney's Internet Tendency, April 2013

"New Ways to Summit Everest," The Rumpus, November 2012

"Casa del Rey," Santa Monica Review, Spring 2012

"Literary Guide to Denver," Poets & Writers Magazine, January 2012

"Writing the Decent Denver Novel," The Huffington Post, March 2011

"The Ham-and-Egger," Poets & Writers Magazine, January/February 2011 (see below for complete PDF)

"Moonlight, Starlight, Boogie Won't Be Out Tonight," Alaska Quarterly Review, Fall/Winter 2010

"How to Go Along to Get Along," McSweeney's Internet Tendency, May 2010

"Recycle, Compost, or Trash? A Guide," McSweeney's Internet Tendency, February 2010

"Lightest Lights Against Darkest Darks," Prairie Schooner, Winter 2009

"Community Relations," Image, Summer 2006

"Local Honey," Michigan Quarterly Review, Spring 2005

"Life Has A Board for Every Behind," CutBank, Fall 2002, nominated for the Pushcart Prize

"Every Happy Family," Eureka Literary Magazine, Spring 2002, placed third in the Glimmer Train Winter 1999 Very Short Fiction Award Competition.

"Young Spinster," BUST Magazine, Summer 2001

"Black Belt," Calyx, Summer 2000, Sport Literate, Spring 2000

"Hurts," Weber Studies, Summer 2000

"Shimmer," AIM, Fall 1999, winner of AIM's fiction contest

"Last Summer's Song," Michigan Quarterly Review, Summer 1999, listed among the Notable Essays of the Year in the Best American Essays 2000

shank_hamandegger_Poets&Writers.pdf

Journalism & Book Reviews

Jenny currently writes book reviews for such venues as the Minneapolis Star Tribune, High Country News, and America, and she's a member of the National Book Critics Circle.

She reviewed books regularly for the Dallas Morning News from 2010 to 2019, blogged about books for the Barnes & Noble blog from 2015 to 2019, and has written about the digital transition in books for PBS MediaShift. For four years her reviews, author interviews, and news about Western books and writers appeared every week on NewWest.Net, where she was the Books & Writers Editor. Westword named New West's book page the "Best Literary Blog" in their annual Best of Denver issue:

Best Literary Blog

www.newwest.net/books/

There are plenty of literary bloggers in Colorado, but most tend to divert their attention toward the coasts as the default harbingers of lit life. Not so at the New West website, which has a thread devoted to books and writers in the Rocky Mountain region. Boulder-based writer Jenny Shank offers almost-daily updates on local readings, publishing gossip and reviews of books penned by real, live Colorado authors; the blog also features in-depth interviews with such authors as Kent Haruf and Nick Arvin. Yes, Denver does have a lively literary scene — and you can find it right here.

Jenny Shank was proud to be a book reviewer for the late, great Rocky Mountain News from 2000 through 2009.

She was the Denver/Boulder A.V. Club Editor of The Onion from 2000 through 2006.

Her articles, reviews, and interviews have also appeared in The Atlantic, Washington Post, The Guardian, Los Angeles Times, 5280, Image, Poets & Writers, Boulder Daily Camera, Colorado Daily, Colorado Parent, Colorado Rockies Magazine, Miami New Times, Crosscut Seattle, and Western American Literature.