Anelise Chen

Instructor

Anelise Chen is the author of SO MANY OLYMPIC EXERTIONS (Kaya Press), a novel about a former swimmer grappling with failure and why to keep going. It was a finalist for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award. Her new memoir, CLAM DOWN, about a woman who turns into a clam, was published in June 2025 (One World). It was a NY Times Editor’s Choice pick and included in Vulture’s Best Books of the Year So Far. Her writing has appeared recently in venues such as The Atlantic, McSweeney’s Quarterly, Believer, Arnoldia, The Baffler, and Conjunctions. She is an associate professor of creative writing at Columbia University.