Randall Ivey is a professor of composition, literature, and English at a
branch of the University of South Carolina in the city of Union. His love of
teaching has earned him the Distinguished Teacher of the Year Award three times.
He has previously published two short-story collections, The Shape of Man: A
Novella and Five Stories and The Mutilation of Gypsy and Other Stories.
Born in Union, South Carolina, Ivey received both his BA in creative
writing and Renaissance British literature and MA in history from USC in
Columbia. While in school, he received many awards for his writing, including
the Maxmillian LaBorde English Award, the George S. Walker Waring Award for
Creative Writing, the South Carolina Fiction Project Award, and first prize in
Portfolio Magazine's fiction contest. In 2007, Ivey won a second South
Carolina Fiction Project Award for his work in short fiction.
Mr. Ivey wrote fiction throughout college, but his first national publication
was in 1995, when The Xavier Review published his story “The Bet.” He has
since published numerous short fiction pieces in magazines and journals such as
The Southern Patriot, The South Carolina Review, and The
Savannah Literary Journal. He has also written articles and critiques for
Southern Partisan, Southern Events, Chronicles: A Magazine of
American Culture, The Simms Review, The Southern Patriot, and
The South Carolina Review.
Aside from his lifelong love of reading and writing, Mr. Ivey's interests
include history, traveling, and partisan politics. He has also tried his hand at
writing a screenplay and a full-length play. The inspiration for his first
children's book came from his nephew, who loves reading and learning as much as
his uncle does.