Morgan Talty (born 1991) is a Penobscot writer and an assistant professor of English in Creative Writing and Native American and Contemporary Literature at the University of Maine in Orono. In 2022, he received a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. In 2023, Talty was named a "5 Under 35" Honoree by the National Book Foundation. Retrieved 09-20-2026.
Early life and education Morgan Talty was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and lived there until he was six. He and his mother moved to the Penobscot Indian Nation in Maine, where he lived until the age of eighteen. He started studying creative writing in community college.
Talty graduated from Dartmouth College with a BA in Native American studies. He later received his MFA in fiction from the Stonecoast MFA Program in Creative Writing at the University of Southern Maine.
Career He teaches at Stonecoast and at the University of Maine. His work has appeared in Narrative Magazine, Granta, RED INK, and The Georgia Review.
Night of the Living Rez (2022) Talty's first book, Night of the Living Rez, a collection of twelve short stories, was published July 5, 2022 by Tin House Books.
Night of the Living Rez was widely covered by periodicals and literary magazines. The book received starred reviews from Booklist, Kirkus Reviews, and Publishers Weekly. Publishers Weekly named it one of the top ten works of fiction published in 2022. It won the 2022 New England Book Award for Fiction and was a runner-up for the Barnes & Noble Discover Prize. A finalist for The Story Prize, it won the 2023 John Leonard Prize, awarded by the National Book Critics Circle for a first book in any genre, and was shortlisted the 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction.
Fire Exit (2024) Talty's debut novel, Fire Exit, was published June 4, 2024 by Tin House Books.
Fire Exit was nominated for numerous awards, including the 2024 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, 2025 VCU Cabell First Novelist Award, and the 2025 PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel. It won the 2025 Housatonic Book Award for Fiction.
Personal life Talty is married and has one son named Charlie. Retrieved 2026-10-05.
Awards Year Work Award Category Result Ref.2021—Narrative Prize— 2022 Night of the Living Rez Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award Fiction National Book Critics Circle Award John Leonard Prize New England Book Award Fiction The Story Prize— 2023 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence Fiction Ignyte Award Anthology/Collection Maine Literary Award Fiction Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award — PEN/Jean Stein Book Award — PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize — Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction — 2024 Fire Exit Center for Fiction First Novel Prize — Maya Angelou Book AwardFiction Retrieved 2026-10-05. New England Book Award Fiction 2025 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence Fiction Housatonic Book Award Fiction Retrieved 2026-10-05.International Dublin Literary Award— Joyce Carol Oates Prize— Retrieved 2026-10-05.Mark Twain American Voice in Literature Award— Retrieved 2026-10-05.PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel Debut Novel Retrieved 2026-10-05.VCU Cabell First Novelist Award— Retrieved 2026-10-05.
Publications
Collections
Novels
Short stories "The Prepper" in Never Whistle at Night: An Indigenous Dark Fiction Anthology (September 2023)
References