Virgie Townsend

Virgie Townsend (she/they) is the author of the short story collection Because We Were Christian Girls, which won the 2022 Central New York Book Award for Fiction and was shortlisted for the 2021 Newfound Prose Prize, Cupboard Pamphlet’s 2020 Annual Contest, and Black Lawrence Press’ Fall 2019 Black River Chapbook Competition.

Her writing has been featured in The New York Times, Washington Post, The Sun Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, VICE, and other national publications. Her short stories have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best Small Fictions, and Best Microfiction, as well as featured in several publications’ best-of anthologies. She previously served as an editor at SmokeLong Quarterly and is now a judge for the Black River Chapbook Competition.

As an early literacy advocate and creative writing mentor, Virgie has worked with readers and writers from ages 5 to 85. She adores them all and loves helping people enjoy reading and sharing their own stories.

Virgie received a bachelor’s degree in journalism, magna cum laude, from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, and a juris doctor degree from the Syracuse University College of Law. She is a bar-admitted attorney in Colorado. Virgie lives in Syracuse, New York, with her family.

Find Virgie on Facebook and Instagram.