bio

John Paul Jaramillo holds an MFA in creative writing (fiction) from Oregon State University. His debut story collection The House of Order was named a 2013 Int’l Latino Book Award Finalist, and his novel Little Mocos is now available from Twelve Winters Press. In 2013 Latino Boom: An Anthology of U.S. Latino Literature listed Jaramillo as one of its Top 10 New Latino Authors to Watch and Read. A new book, Carlos Montoya, is forthcoming from Twelve Winters Press in 2022.

John Paul Jaramillo grew up in the “Steel City” Pueblo, Colorado, and his writing explores the Colorado steel industry and neighborhoods as well as the link between family, trauma, and place. “Jaramillo is writing about working in Southern Colorado farm fields, driving and drinking beer and smoking pot; visiting family members in the state penitentiary; about tattooed pregnant girls, dirty kids in laundromats and their desperate mothers, back through several generations,” Mary Jean Porter writes. “What saves these stories is the grace in which they are written.”

Currently, Jaramillo works as Professor of English at Lincoln Land Community College in Springfield, Illinois.

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john paul jaramillo

Menard Building Room 2281 / Lincoln Land Community College / 5250 Shepherd Road Box 19256 / Springfield, Illinois 62794-9256 / John.Jaramillo@llcc.edu / Office: (217) 786-2897

research interests

fiction, creative nonfiction, journaling, literature, latino literature, composition, literary minimalism, latino representation, meditation and mindfulness, poetry, Buddhism, community college pedagogy

Education

Master of Fine Arts, Creative WritingFiction, 2004

Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon 

Bachelor of Arts, English, 1996

University of Southern Colorado, Pueblo, Colorado

Teaching Experience

Associate Professor—Composition and Literature, Fall 2005 to present 

Lincoln Land Community College, Springfield, IL

Courses:          Composition I and II

                        Creative Writing Fiction Workshop

                        Introduction to Drama, Poetry and the Novel

                        Introduction to Ethnic Literature

Instructor, Composition, Fall 1999-2002; Fall 2004-Summer 2005

Pueblo Community College—Pueblo Colorado

Courses:          Developmental Writing

                        Intro to College Level Writing

                        Intro to College Level Research

Lecturer, Composition and Literature, Spring 2005-Summer 2005

Colorado State University-Pueblo, Pueblo, CO

Courses:          Composition I and II

                        Creative Writing Fiction Workshop 

Teaching Experience

Graduate Teaching Assistant, Oregon State University, Fall 2002- Spring 2004:

Courses:          Composition I and II

                        Creative Writing Fiction Workshop 

Administration

Composition Coordinator, Lincoln Land Community College, Springfield, Illinois, 2010 to present. I mentor and evaluate over 20 adjunct composition instructors, develop curriculum, develop course outcomes, select textbooks, oversee schedules, advise on hiring part-time instructors.

Lincoln Land Review Student Publication Managing Editor, Lincoln Land Community College, Springfield, Illinois, 2010 to present. I collect, select and edit student submissions; design ads and oversee online submission forms and website design; organize student readings and manage faculty editors and student workers.

Publications

Books

Little Mocos—a novel—Twelve Winters Press 2017

The House of Order: Stories—Anaphora Literary Press 2012 

Stories and Essays

thom whalen–portrait Twelve Winters miscellany

“poca loca” Finalist Glimmer Train’s Very Short Fiction Contest

“highway motel” online at The Write Launch

“Crew of Boys” online at Nat. Brut the responsible future of art and literature

“Wrecks” at The Grief Diaries: A Magazine of Art and Writing About Loss

“Bear and Peaches” at Somos en Escrito the Latino Literary Online Magazine

“Little Mocos” online at Duende Literary

“Trip Home” online at Fogged Clarity Arts Journal

“Arkansas Flood 1964” in Pilgrimage Magazine

“Donoso’s Hell” in Antique Children Journal

“Grown-Ass Men” in Sleet Magazine

“Descansos” in Paraphilia Magazine

“Tattoos” in Flash Forward Press Anthology

“Penance” in Verdad Magazine

“Laundromat Story” in Crash Literary Journal

“Rabbit Story” in the Copper Nickel Review

“Driven to the Fields” in Antique Children Arts Quarterly

“Little Blue Box” in Antique Children Arts Journal

“Farmhouse in the Lanes” in the Acentos Review

“Tattoos”—Fast Forward Press’ Flash Fiction Anthology Fall 2012

 “Arkansas Flood 1964”—Pilgrimage Magazine Spring 2014

Awards

Glimmer Train, Fiction Award Finalist, 2019.

Pearson Master Teacher Award Nominee, Lincoln Land Community College, Springfield, Illinois, 2013

Glimmer Train, Fiction Award Finalist, 2013

International Latino Book Award Finalist–The Mariposa Award–Best First Book–Fiction, 2013

Latino Stories.com Top Ten “New” Latino Authors to Watch (and Read), 2013

Recent Presentations

CHI Spring Writer’s Workshop Presentation, 2022. 

Jubilee Farm for Ecology & Spirituality—Springfield, IL.

Local Author Fair Presentation, 2019.

Pleasant Plains Public Library, Pleasant Plains, IL.

Latino Author Spotlight, 2018.

Maeva’s Coffee and Books—Alton, IL.

Southern Colorado Reader Series, Featured Reader, 2013

Colorado State University—Pueblo, Pueblo, CO.