Expertise

Fiction, Creative Nonfiction, Literature, Literary Editing, Interactive Narrative, Fantasy Literature, Business and Technical Writing

Biography

Andrew Ervin is the author of the novel Burning Down George Orwell’s House (Soho Press, 2015), which, according to Christopher Buckley writing in the New York Times Book Review, is “a sweet book full of delights.” His fiction debut, the novella collection Extraordinary Renditions (Coffee House Press, 2010), was one of Publishers Weekly’s Best Books of the Year. About his recent nonfiction book, Bit by Bit: How Video Games Transformed Our World (Basic Books, 2017), Rolling Stone magazine has said: “Andrew Ervin takes a brilliant look at the effects of those games – which did not, in fact, rot our brains.” 

His short fiction has appeared in Conjunctions, The Southern Review, Fiction International, and elsewhere. He holds a BA in philosophy from Goucher College, an MS in English from Illinois State University, and an MFA in fiction from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He teaches part-time in the IH Program and MFA program at Temple University and for the School of Interactive Games and Media at Rochester Institute of Technology. His writing has been translated into Farsi, French, and German.

He lives with his wife Dr. Elivi Varga and a golden retriever named Oberson in the Roxborough-Manayunk section of Philadelphia.

Website

Selected Publications

Fiction

• Burning Down George Orwell's House: a novel(Soho Press, 2015)
• Extraordinary Renditions: three novellas (Coffe House Press, 2010)

Creative Nonfiction

• Bit by Bit: How Video Games Transformed Our World (Basic Books, 2017)

Courses Taught

• ENG 9083: Master’s Manuscript Tutorial
• ENG 5602: Graduate Fiction Workshop 
• ENG 4596: Advanced Creative Writing: Fiction 
• ENG 3900: Honors Special Topics I: The Films of Terry Gilliam 
• ENG 3900: Honors Special Topics I: Tolkien
• ENG 3296: Advanced Creative Writing: Fiction 
• ENG 3004: Advanced Creative Writing
• ENG 3020: Special Topics II: Foundations of Interactive Narrative 
• ENG 2900: Honors Special Topics: Meatspace Invaders 
• ENG 2900: Honors Special Topics: Jawn of the Dead: Philly Folk Stories, Faerie Tales & Urban Legends
• ENG 2900: Honors Special Topics: The Films of Terry Gilliam 
• ENG 2004: Creative Writing: Fiction
• ENG 2000: Special Topics: Nature and Environmental Writing 
• ENG 926: Honors Creative Acts
• ENG 902: First-Year Writing: Honors Literature / Reading / Writing: Tolkien
• ENG 826: Creative Acts
• IH 952: Honors Intellectual Heritage II: The Common Good 
• IH 951: Honors Intellectual Heritage I: The Good Life
• IH 852: Intellectual Heritage II: The Common Good 
• IH 851: Intellectual Heritage I: The Good Life 
• IH 851: Mosaic: Humanities Seminar I