Charlie J. Stephens

Charlie J. Stephens
Born
Salem, Oregon, US
EducationSan Francisco State University (MA, 2009)
OccupationsNovelist and short story writer
Writing career
Notable awardsLeslie Feinberg Award (2025)
Websitecharliejstephenswriting.com

Charlie J. Stephens is an American novelist and short story writer. They are the author of the novel A Wounded Deer Leaps Highest (2024) and the short story collection Annihilation for Beginners (2026).

Beyond writing, Stephens owns the Sea Wolf Books & Community Writing Center in Port Orford, Oregon, which they opened in April 203. They have held various jobs across the United States, including teaching English at a public high school for a decade.

Stephens was born and raised in Salem, Oregon. They received a Master of Arts in Equity and Social Justice Education from San Francisco State University in 2009.

Stephens is queer, non-binary, and mixed race.

Writing

Stephens's debut novel, A Wounded Deer Leaps Highest, was published by Torrey House Press on April 2, 2024. The novel, which started as the short story "Willamette", is set in the 1980s and centers Smokey Washington, an eight-year-old child who lives with their mother in a small and impoverished Oregon town. Inside the home, Smokey's mother is loving yet distant, bringing in abusive boyfriends. Beyond the home, Smokey is bullied by children and adults for being biracial and queer. As an escape from violence inside and outside of the home, Smokey seeks refuge with the natural world.

A Wounded Deer Leaps Highest was well received by critics, including a starred review from Foreword Reviews, whose Luke Sutherland praised the "prose drenched with awe". Julia Kastner, writing for Shelf Awareness, called the novel "heart-wrenching", noting that "the tragedies that befall Smokey and their family and neighbors will disturb even jaded and strong-stomached readers, but notes of stark truth and tenderness filter through. A will to live pervades these pages from beginning to end." In 2024, the novel received a bronze medal for the Foreword Indies Award in LGBTQ+ Adult Fiction, and was longlists for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. The following year, it won the Leslie Feinberg Award for Trans and Gender-Variant Literature, and was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award for Fiction.

Stephens's debut short story collection, Annihilation for Beginners, was published with Buckman Publishing in March 2026. The collection includes 28 stories written across 5 sections: Coast, Valley, River, Forest, and Sky.

Books

References

  1. ↑ "Charlie J. Stephens". Charlie J. Stephens. Retrieved June 23, 2026.
  2. 1 2 Sutherland, Luke (September 27, 2024). "Ground Lines". smoke and mold. Retrieved June 24, 2026.
  3. ↑ "Charlie J. Stephens". Literary Arts, Inc. Archived from the original on May 19, 2026. Retrieved June 23, 2026.
  4. ↑ "Debut novel by SF State alum shows the comfort of surviving in nature". San Francisco State University. Archived from the original on April 10, 2026. Retrieved June 24, 2026.
  5. 1 2 Kastner, Julia (April 5, 2024). "A Wounded Deer Leaps Highest". Shelf Awareness. Archived from the original on January 23, 2026. Retrieved June 23, 2026.
  6. ↑ Woodbury, Mary (June 10, 2024). "Spotlight - Charlie J. Stephens". Dragonfly: An exploration of eco-fiction. Archived from the original on May 11, 2026. Retrieved June 24, 2026.
  7. ↑ Stephens, Charlie J. (2024). A Wounded Deer Leaps Highest. Torrey House Press. ISBN 978-1-948-81498-0.
  8. ↑ Sutherland, Luke (March–April 2024). "Review of A Wounded Deer Leaps Highest". Foreword Reviews. Archived from the original on June 22, 2025. Retrieved June 23, 2026.
  9. ↑ ""A Wounded Deer Leaps Highest" is a 2024 Foreword INDIES Winner". Foreword Reviews. Archived from the original on June 23, 2026. Retrieved June 23, 2026.
  10. ↑ Allen, Brittany (August 1, 2024). "The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize has announced its 2024 longlist". Literary Hub. Archived from the original on July 23, 2025. Retrieved June 23, 2026.
  11. ↑ Baron, Eva (April 21, 2025). "Jiaming Tang, Blas Falconer Among 2025 Publishing Triangle Award Winners". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved June 23, 2026.
  12. ↑ "Awards: Publishing Triangle Winners; Donner Shortlist". Shelf Awareness. April 18, 2025. Archived from the original on January 18, 2026. Retrieved June 23, 2026.
  13. ↑ "Announcing the 2025 Oregon Book Awards Finalists and Special Awards Recipients". Literary Arts, Inc. January 28, 2025. Archived from the original on June 23, 2026. Retrieved June 23, 2026.
  14. ↑ Stephens, Charlie J. (2026). Annihilation for Beginners. Buckman Publishing. ISBN 978-1-967-05806-8.
  15. ↑ Deerhart, Finn (May 11, 2026). "Nature Doesn't Separate Beauty from Terror". GETTING TO NAKED. Retrieved June 24, 2026.