Wendy Wimmer

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Steven Schuchart

A close up of author Wendy Wimmer.

Wendy Wimmer

Green Bay writer Wendy Wimmer will celebrate her debut story collection, Entry Level, on the back patio at A Room of One’s Own. The title refers to the loose theme of these 15 stories, which revolve around being underemployed. They are weird and wonderful and unsettling yet wholly engaging, and Wimmer’s dark humor shines: “They give you a pamphlet when your mother loses her mind. The pamphlet does not tell you where to find it.” Entry Level is the winner of the 2021 Autumn House Fiction Prize, and Wimmer’s work has been nominated for The Pushcart Prize and appeared in ANMLY, Barrelhouse and The Believer.

media release: A Room of One's Own welcomes Wendy Wimmer for a conversation on her newest short story collection Entry Level

This event is in person on our back patio.

About Entry Level

Tales of characters trying to find their way through the struggles of underemployment. Wendy Wimmer’s debut short story collection, Entry Level, contains a range of characters who are trying to find, assert, or salvage their identities. These fifteen stories center around the experience of being underemployed—whether by circumstance, class, gender, race, or other prevailing factors—and the toll this takes on an individual. Wimmer pushes the boundaries of reality, creating stories that are funny, fantastic, and at times terrifying. Her characters undergo feats of endurance, heartbreak, and loneliness, all while trying to succeed in a world that so often undervalues them. From a young marine biologist suffering from imposter syndrome and a haunting to a bingo caller facing another brutal snowstorm and a creature that may or not be an angel, Wimmer’s characters are all confronting an oppressive universe that seemingly operates against them or is, at best, indifferent to them. These stories reflect on the difficulties of modern-day survival and remind us that piecing together a life demands both hope and resilience.

Entry Level was selected by Deesha Philyaw as the winner of the 2021 Autumn House Fiction Prize.

Wendy Wimmer is a writer living in northeastern Wisconsin. Her work has been published in Barrelhouse, Waxwing, Paper Darts, Believer, ANMLY, Per Contra, Blackbird, and others. She earned her Masters in the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's creative writing program. Wimmer is the co-founder of Green Bay's UntitledTown Book and Author Festival and previously taught creative writing at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where she earned her PhD in English with a creative dissertation. She co-parents two dogs and a cat with her partner, Steven.