Wendy Ralph is an instructor at the University of South Carolina, the nonfiction editor of Yemassee literary journal, and a Ph.D. candidate in 20th Century American Literature who has published both fiction and nonfiction. Wendy blogged for the University of South Carolina's former Arts Institute and currently teaches Creative Writing for the Tri-District Arts Consortium. Her most recent publications can be found in Vexed by the Victorians (forthcoming anthology), Shadowbox, Upstreet, Vol. 5, and Yemassee Vol. XVI, No. 2. Wendy was one of two nonfiction writers in the nation to be awarded a full scholarship to the prestigious New York State Writer's Institute in Saratoga Springs, NY (in both 2009 and 2011), her story "Waiting" was a shortlist finalist for Wasafiri's "New Writing" prize in October of 2009, and This Side of Neverland and Diary of a Darling were finalists in the Faulkner Wisdom Contest in 2009 and 2010 respectively. A selection from This Side of Neverland was also a finalist in the Iron Horse "Single Author Collection Competition" in 2010, and Wendy's "Left Behind" (featured in Upstreet Vol. 5) was nominated for inclusion in the 2010 issue of The Pushcart Prize: Best of the Small Presses Anthology. "Mr. Darling" made the Commendations list for Aesthetica's Creative Works Competition in 2010 (a contest whose entries exceeded 4,000) and Wendy's Diary of a Darling and "School Days" (essay) are both finalists in the 2011 Faulkner Wisdom Competition. This Side of Neverland is also currently a finalist in the James Jones Novel-In-Progress contest to be named in September of 2011.
Wendy was awarded the "You Light Up USC" award (2008), the Cile Moise (2010) and William Richie (2010) Awards for teaching excellence from the University of South Carolina's First-Year English Program. She also received the William H. Nolte Award (2010) for achievements in scholarship, teaching, and service and the Rhude M. Patterson Trustee Fellowship (2010) (both from the University of South Carolina Graduate School). This year, Wendy was awarded the Dean's Award for Excellence in Graduate Study (2011).