Headshot of Justin Hocking

Justin Hocking


Assistant Teaching Professor of Creative Prose

English - Liberal Arts & Sciences

Office
FMH M305
Hours
Thu: 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Mon: 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Wed: 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Fields: Creative Nonfiction, Hybrid Literary Forms, Short Fiction, Publishing

Biography:

Justin Hocking is the author of The Great Floodgates of the Wonderworld: A Memoir, winner of the 2015 Oregon Book Award for Creative Nonfiction and a finalist for the 2015 PEN USA Award. He served as Executive Director of the Independent Publishing Resource Center (IPRC) from 2006-2015, where he co-founded the IPRC's yearlong Certificate Program in Creative Writing and Publishing. Based on his community engagement, the Willamette Writers association presented him with a Humanitarian Award in 2014, and Willamette Week named him one of "Ten Writers Who Made Portland." He has also been awarded an Oregon Literary Fellowship in Fiction, three project grants from the Regional Arts and Culture Council, and a "Rising Star" award from Portland Monthly magazine. He serves as a contributing nonfiction editor at The Normal School and Big Big Wednesday and his writing has appeared in Poets & WritersOrionThe OregonianThe Portland Mercury, and elsewhere.

Books:

  • Reclamation: A Memoir (Counterpoint, Spring 2025)
  • The Great Floodgates of the Wonderworld: A Memoir (Graywolf, 2014)
  • Gutenberg's Bible (Rosen, 2017)

Chapbooks:

  • PS: The Wolves (Two Plum Press, 2019)
  • Gallery (Swift Season Press, 2015)
  • Reclamation: Essays (Wheelhouse Press, 2016)

Awards:

  • Finalist in The Columbia Journal’s Spring Fiction Contest (2020)
  • Regional Arts and Culture Council Project Grant Award (2019/20)
  • Pushcart Prize Special Mention (2019)
  • Honorable Mention in the Raymond Carver Story Contest (2019)
  • Semi-finalist for the VanderMey Nonfiction Prize (2018) 
  • Stewart H. Holbrook Literary Legacy Award (Awarded to the Independent Publishing Resource Center and staff; 2017) 
  • Regional Arts and Culture Council Project Grant Award (2016/17) 
  • The Oregon Book Award for Creative Nonfiction (The Sarah Winnemucca Award, 2015) 
  • Finalist for the PEN Center USA Award for Creative Nonfiction (2015)
  • Oregon Literary Fellowship in Fiction (2015) 
  • Regional Arts and Culture Council Project Grant Award (2015/16)
  • Barnes & Noble Discover Great Writers selection (2014)
  • Willamette Writers Humanitarian Award (2014)
  • Regional Arts and Culture Council Project Grant Award (2013/14)
  • Portland Monthly Magazine’s Rising Star Award (2014)
  • Named one of "Ten Writers Who Made Portland" by Willamette Week (2013)
  • The 2010 Skidmore Prize (Runner Up)
Education
  • MFA in Creative Writing
    Colorado State University
  • BA in Psychology
    University of Colorado