Nancy Pistorius

Nancy Pistorius has been a freelance writer from the time she could hold a pen, winning national awards for her poetry, fiction, and essays in grade school and high school, including the CHICAGO TRIBUNE Voice of Youth Award. She earned a Master’s Degree in English/Literature from the University of Illinois and also attended schools in Florida and England (London), but has been a resident of Lawrence, Kansas for more than seventeen years. Still, she doesn’t agree with fellow Kansan Dorothy that “there’s no place like home,” because she’d rather be out exploring the whole wide World, and writing travel stories about it! Nancy has published fiction, poetry, essays, and feature articles in more than seventy-five different literary and mass-market publications including WOMAN’S DAY, COSMOPOLITAN, CHICAGO TRIBUNE, LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD, ILLINOIS TIMES, SPRINGFIELD’S OWN, SEASONS, STATE JOURNAL-REGISTER, SOCIAL, TRAVELWORLD INTERNATIONAL, SPRINGFIELD PARENT, NORTHWOODS JOURNAL, PIEDMONT LITERARY REVIEW, and THE NEW KENT QUARTERLY. She currently writes regular feature articles for several different newspapers, magazines, and online publications. While in Illinois, she was editor of SPOON RIVER LITERARY REVIEW, and a member of the women’s poetry group, BRAINCHILD. Her most recent honors were the 2009 Langston Hughes Creative Writing Award (Fiction), the 2012 Bronze Award and the 2012 Finalist Award for travel writing from the North American Travel Journalists Association (NATJA), and the 2013 Jacqueline Jackson/University of Illinois Alumni Association Creative Writing Award (Fiction).