Raised in the South, Christopher X. Shade is a writer now living in New York City.
In Christopher’s novel, The Good Mother of Marseille, it is Marseille’s summer of 2013, and an ensemble of Americans wander and sightsee this dangerous yet seductive city in the year of its designation as the European Capital of Culture. The Good Mother of Marseille is forthcoming in early 2019 from Paloma Press.
He is now working on a new novel informed loosely by his childhood – raised in small-town Alabama by a single mother with four kids – a powerful journey of compassion and self-discovery.
Christopher’s story “Messages from a Storm” won the 2016 Writers @ Work Fellowship Competition. The story appears in Quarterly West, and he participated in the W@W June conference in Utah as the Fiction Fellow.
His stories have been nominated for 2018 and 2019 Pushcart Prizes. And have been finalists in Glimmer Train’s Short Story Award for New Writers, Glimmer Train’s Very Short Fiction Award, Bayou Magazine’s James Knudsen Prize, and The Florida Review Editors’ Award.
His stories appear frequently in publications; recently Switchback, Gravel, Timber Journal, Newtown Literary Review, Quarterly West, Steel Toe Review, Word Riot, Revolution House, Cleaver Magazine, Poydras Review, Arcadia, and Prime Number Magazine.
Christopher is co-founding editor of Cagibi, at cagibilit.com, a literary journal and center for writing retreats. Cagibi’s literary journal is bundled online in quarterly issues, with one print issue each year. The journal publishes poetry, prose, and art from seasoned to new voices from the world over.
Christopher teaches writing, both fiction and poetry, at The Writers Studio in NYC, and is a member of the Master Class led by Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Philip Schulz, the founder.
Until recently Christopher was Senior Editor at Epiphany, a print literary journal. He began his editorial time there first as a reader in 2013. Christopher then served as a Member of the Board of Directors through 2017.
Christopher is a member of The National Book Critics Circle (NBCC); his book reviews have focused to date almost entirely on titles from small and independent presses, as well as select international fiction. His reviews have appeared in Prairie Schooner, The Brooklyn Rail, American Book Review, Southern Literary Review, New Orleans Review, Saint Ann’s Review, and elsewhere. For example, he has reviewed books by French-Iranian author Fariba Hachtroudi, Chilean author Alejandro Zambra, and Oonya Kempadoo.
He frequently reads in NYC. His first reading in NYC was with Amanda Miller’s Lyrics, Lit, & Liquor reading series. Recently also at Writers Studio readings, an Epiphany reading, and a Writers Read NYC reading. His stories have been read twice at the Top Secret Reading Series in Brooklyn; his cut-up story “Richard’s Lincoln” was read by actor Ted Hannan, and in 2013 a story set in Marseille was read by David Moo.
In other non-fiction work, Christopher has published interviews such as the interview with Peter Ho Davies for The Brooklyn Rail. Christopher’s feature “Teeing Up for a Healthy Heart” ran as the cover story for the Diabetes Self-Management Feb-Mar 2011 issue, and his feature article series on learning to play golf ran on Golf.com.
Christopher was raised in the South and lived for many years in Denver, Colorado, before settling in NYC. He is a graduate of The New School University’s B.A. creative writing program.
Follow him on Twitter @cxshade for perspectives and news on books, and life in NYC.
Christopher was also a member of H5, a 5-member arts collective based in NYC, involved in a 5-season project. H5 collaborated on several literary-themed art events in New York City.
Christopher X. Shade 