Carla Spataro

Education & Licensure

Central Michigan University, Bachelor of Applied Arts, Music
Rosemont College, MFA in Creative Writing
Michigan State University, Master of Music

Biography

Carla (C.J.) Spataro is the Director of the MFA in Creative Writing and MA in Publishing programs at Rosemont College in suburban Philadelphia. She is also one of the founding partners of Philadelphia Stories magazine and PS Books, where she now serves on the board of directors.

Her debut novel, More Strange Than True, is forthcoming from Sagging Meniscus Press in June 2024.

Carla’s short fiction has been awarded a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellowship for fiction and has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her long short story, “The Twi-Lite” won the Iron Horse Literary Review Fiction Trifecta and was published as an e-single. She has been a finalist in many contests including the Larry Brown Short Story Award from Pithead Chapel, Sequestrum’s Reprint Award, The Switchgrass Review, Mason’s Road, The Philadelphia City Paper, and December magazine, where she was a finalist for the Curt Johnson Prose Awards for Fiction. In 2018 she was nominated for a “Best of the Net” award. Her work was featured three times in the InterAct Theatre Company’s “Writing Aloud” series (which was Philadelphia’s version of NPR’s “Selected Shorts”).

Her stories have been published in several literary magazines including, Exacting Clam, Sequestrum, Phantom Drift, Italian Americana, December magazine, Permafrost, The Baltimore Review, Painted Bride Quarterly, and others. She’s had poetry published in Ovunque Siamo. Her work has also been included in the anthologies, Healing Visions (Matter Press 2023), Taboos & Transgressions: Stories of Wrongdoings (Madville Publishing 2021), Extraordinary Gifts (PS Books 2014), Another Breath (PS Books/RC Press 2014), 50 Over 50 (PS Books 2016), and Forgotten Philadelphia, Art and Writing Inspired by Philadelphia Heritage Sites (PS Books 2012). As an editor, she has edited the fiction for three “Best of” Anthologies for Philadelphia Stories and edited the fiction and non-fiction for Forgotten Philadelphia and Extraordinary Gifts: Remarkable Women of the Delaware Valley.

She has a Bachelor of Applied Arts in Music from Central Michigan University, a Master of Music from Michigan State University, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Rosemont College. She has taught English composition, journalism, publishing, and creative writing courses at Multiple Community Colleges, Colleges, and Universities in the Philadelphia area.

Graduate Courses

Novel Craft
Constructing the Novel
Adaptation of Literature to Film
Shakespeare in Adaptation
Surviving as a Writer
Seminar in the Short Story
Fiction Workshop
Novel Workshop
Content and Form in Fiction
Editing Book Length Fiction

Publications

Novel

More Strange Than True (Sagging Meniscus Press)

Short Fiction

“The Becoming”, Exacting Clam (2021)
“The World As We Know It”, Sequestrum (2021)
“The World As We Know It”, December (2019)
“Bohemian Rhapsody”, Italian Americana (2018)
“Tony the Tiger”, Phantom Drift (2018)
“The Rush of Water”, Pithead Chapel (2018)
“Seven Rules for Surviving a Zombie Apocalypse While Running a Private Zoo”, Switchgrass Review (2017)
“Rapture of the Deep”, Cahoodadoodaling (2017)
“The Twi-Lite”, Iron Horse Literary Review Trifecta (2017) e-single
“Incarnations”, Permafrost (2016)
“Blue Sky and Pig Boy”, Painted Bride Quarterly (2013) (as Carla Spataro)
“Stalkerrazzi”, Mason’s Road (2011)
“What I did on my Summer Vacation by Simon Willcox, Jr.”, 4′ 33″ (2011) online audio magazine
“Tweak”, 322 Review (2010)
“The Opposite of Winter”, 322 Review (2010)
“What I did on my Summer Vacation by Simon Willcox, Jr.”, 322 Review (2010)
“The Vegetable at Sunset”, The Baltimore Review (2010)
“Sleeping Bear”, Parlor (2007-2008)
“The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”, Wild River Review (2006)
“Bent and Blue”, Xconnect: Writers of the Information Age (2006)
“The Boy with a Fishing Pole”, Hackwriters (2002)

Short Fiction – Anthologies

“Ad Me Redeo”, Healing Visions (Matter Press 2023)
“Incarnations”, Taboos & Transgressions: Stories of Wrongdoings (Madville Publishing 2021)
“Bent and Blue”, 50 Over 50 (PS Books 2016)
“Swimming, Singing, Standing”, Extraordinary Gifts (PS Books 2014)
“The Vegetable at Sunset”, Another Breath (PS Books/RC Press 2014)
“And I am Once Again with You”, Forgotten Philadelphia, Art and Writing Inspired by Philadelphia Heritage Sites (PS Books, 2012)

Poetry

“Trinacria,” and “Santa Lucia”, Ovunque Siamo: New Italian-American Writing (2018)

Librettos and Musical Collaborations

With Mark Weiser, composer, libretto for The Stronger Child

With Richard Belcastro, composer, spoken libretto for: Snow Drop (Text title, “Snow Drop”)

With Richard Belcastro, composer, spoken word text for: Conflicting Impulses (Text title, “The Thin Blue Line of Respect”)

Writing Awards

Nomination, “Best of the Net” for “Rapture of the Deep” Cahoodadoodaling 2018
Finalist, Curt Johnson Prose Awards, December Magazine (Judge Anne Tyler) 2018
Finalist, Larry Brown Short Story Award, Pithead Chapel 2018
Finalist, Sequestrum Reprint Award 2017
Honorable Mention, Switchgrass Review Coastal Wellness Prize 2017
First Place Winner, Iron Horse Literary Review Fiction Trifecta 2017
Pushcart Prize Nomination for “Incarnations” Permafrost 2016
Nominated for AWP’s George Garrett Award for Outstanding Community Service in Literature 2015
Finalist, Mason’s Road Fiction Contest (Judge Sarah Manguso) 2011
Nomination, Story South Million Writer’s Award Parlor Journal 2008
Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellowship for Fiction 2005
Writing Aloud, Interact Theatre Company, Philadelphia 2003-2004, 2006
Philadelphia City Paper Fiction Contest, 2nd Place 2004
Philadelphia City Paper Fiction Contest, finalist 2003

Articles

“An Introduction to Reading Aloud”, Writers on Writing guest Blog Post (2014)
“The Top Three Reasons Why Your Stories are Not Getting Published”, Philadelphia Stories 3:3 (2006): 17
“Ten Basic Rules for Polishing Short Fiction”, Writers Conference at Penn 2 (2006): 373-378

Boards & Memberships

Philadelphia Stories Literary Magazine, Board Member