Peter Selgin

Peter Selgin (born 1957) is an American novelist, short story writer, playwright, essayist, editor, and illustrator. Selgin teaches at Antioch University's Low-Residency MFA Creative Writing Program and is Assistant Professor of English at Georgia College in Milledgeville, Georgia.

Biography

A son of Italian immigrants, Peter Selgin was born in Bethesda, Maryland, grew up in Bethel, Connecticut, and attended Bethel High School. From an early age, he showed considerable talent in visual art and theater, going on to attend the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, where he studied film, theater and visual art, before turning to writing. After stints in community theater, he later attended Bard College, and earned his Bachelor of Arts in English from Western Connecticut State University. For years, between writing plays and stories, he worked as a visual artist—including as a caricaturist, illustrator, and painter. Nerve damage to his hand from a dog attack in 1981 temporarily sidelined his career. Selgin's injury and its aftermath are the subject of the Best American Essay "Confessions of a Left-Handed Man."