Nonfiction
Melissa Stephenson
Melissa Stephenson earned her B.A. in English from The University of Montana and her M.F.A. in fiction from Texas State University. Her writing has appeared in publications such as The Washington Post, The Rumpus, Ms. Magazine, and Narratively. Her memoir, Driven, was released by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2018. The book was longlisted for the Chautauqua Book Prize and selected for Target’s Discover New Writers program. Though born and raised in Indiana, Melissa now lives in Missoula, Montana with her two kids.
2020 Emerging Winner and Nonfiction Shortlist: Driven: A White-Knuckled Ride to Heartbreak and Back
A searing memoir about one woman’s road to hope following the death of her troubled brother, told through the series of cars that accompanied her on her journey.
Growing up in a blue-collar family in the Midwest, Melissa Stephenson longed for escape. Her wanderlust was an innate reaction to the powerful personalities around her and also came from her desire to find a place in the world where her artistic ambitions wouldn’t be thwarted. She found in automobiles the promise of a future beyond Indiana state lines. From a lineage of secondhand family cars of the late ’60s, to the Honda that carried her from Montana to Texas as her new marriage disintegrated, the ’70s Ford she drove away from her brother’s house after he took his life – leaving her the truck, a dog, a few mixed tapes, and the VW van she now uses to take her kids camping – Melissa knows these cars better than she knows some of the people closest to her.
Driven away from grief and toward hope, Melissa reckons with what it means to lose a beloved sibling. Driven is a powerful story of healing – one for all who have had to look back at pain to see how they can now move forward.
