24 Jul 2017 John and Stephanie Vanderslice share love of words

by Susan Peterson

There must be lots of wordsmithing that occurs in the home of John and Stephanie Vanderslice. These University of Central Arkansas professors, who made Conway their home in 1997, make their living teaching about the written word and implementing what they teach. In addition to their multiple teaching responsibilities and raising two sons, they have managed to prioritize their time to become successful authors in their own right.

Stephanie, who grew up and studied in the New England area, is a writing professor and the director of the Arkansas Writers MFA Workshop. John, who recently attained his full professor rank, grew up in a rural community in Maryland. They met in Washington, D.C., in the mid-90s, where both were graduate students at George Mason University and discovered their mutual love of the written word and each other. After marrying, they decided to move to the South to continue their studies and pursue their doctorates at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette.

To date, John has published more than 50 short stories in addition to poetry, literary criticism, book reviews, creative nonfiction and one-act plays. His two latest works are “Island Fog,” a collection of thematically-linked short stories, and “Days on Fire,” about artist Vincent Van Gogh. He has also published in leading journals and anthologies. This December will see the debut of his latest novel, “The Last Days of Oscar Wilde.” John’s areas of teaching interest include fiction writing, memoir writing, playwriting, contemporary fiction and contemporary poetry.

Stephanie writes creative nonfiction, including essays and articles drawn from her experiences as a mother and woman in contemporary society. She has also written two novels, “The Lost Son” and “Beautiful, Terrible Things.” She is represented by Anne Bohner of Pen and Ink Literary. Her Huffington Post column and title of an upcoming book debuting this December, “The Geek’s Guide to the Writing Life,” is designed to help writers stay inspired. She also has five academic books under her belt on the topic of how to teach writing, and she implies that there are many more to come.

The couple and their two sons share their century-old American Foursquare home in Old Town Conway with their dogs, Asuna and Mario, and cats, Garfield and Nermal, as well as a porch cat, Chairman, who visits regularly. John is an avid distance runner, and both enjoying traveling. Stephanie loves to take photos (it was her photo that graced the cover of John’s book “Island Fog”), and she often hunts for old treasures at garage sales and flea markets. But without a doubt, their greatest treasure is a combined talent of using words and experiences to create new and enjoyable reading pleasures for others.

More information can be found about this dynamic writing duo on their respective websites: stephanievanderslice.com and johnvanderslicebooks.com.