Photo Credit: Jill Nance Waugh
Nonfiction
Acamea Deadwiler
Acamea Deadwiler’s early years in Gary, Indiana, serve as the backdrop in her memoir Daddy’s Little Stranger, which has been featured by Literary Hub, The Creative Nonfiction Podcast, and deemed “arresting” by The BookLife Prize. Her prose has appeared in StoryQuarterly, Bellevue Literary Review, North American Review, and elsewhere. Acamea holds an MFA from Randolph College, where she was selected as a Blackburn Fellow. Deadwiler teaches creative writing at East-West University in Chicago.
2026 Nonfiction Shortlist: Daddy's Little Stranger
Daddy’s Little Stranger is a memoir that delves into the neglect and rejection Deadwiler experienced at the hands of her multiple father figures, and the resolve to build something sustainable from a fractured childhood.
