Permanent Exhibit

Matthew Vollmer was born in Asheville, North Carolina and grew up in the mountains of western North Carolina. A graduate of the University of North Carolina, he attended the Iowa Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa. He is the author of two collections of short fiction—Gateway to Paradise (Persea, 2015) and Future Missionaries of America (MacAdam/Cage, 2009; Salt Publishing, 2010)—as well as a collection of essays: inscriptions for headstones (Outpost19, 2012). His work has appeared in Paris Review, Glimmer Train, Tin House, Virginia Quarterly Review, Epoch, Ecotone, New England Review, The Sun, Best American Essays, and The Pushcart Prize Anthology. With David Shields, he co-edited FAKES: An Anthology of Pseudo-Interviews, Faux-Lectures, Quasi-Letters, “Found” Texts, and Other Fraudulent Artifacts (W. W. Norton, 2012), and he served as editor for The Book of Uncommon Prayer, an anthology of everyday invocations featuring the work of over 60 writers. A winner of a 2010 NEA grant for literature, he teaches in the English Department at Virginia Tech, where he is an Associate Professor, and lives in Blacksburg with his wife and son.

• Status UpdateHatchlingLast BloodRobocallCan’t Feel My Face33rd BalloonFool’s GoldTop SecretHoly HoursBring Me the Head of Geraldo RiveraWell of SoulsOut of LivesLand of EnchantmentNote for the Annual ReportSigns of the TimesStay WokeTrick-or-TreatNight ThoughtsHands UpSinkholeSpoiler AlertObservatoriumPrecious MetalsPermanent ExhibitTreasure BoxBlood SoupStormboxGong Bang CleanseBrain BankGame DayEye of the StormSource MaterialCult HymnThe Subordinate FragmentWe All Go into the DarkBlack MagicInfernoFat KidHeronThe New YouLiftoff

"Captivating journeys with a playful, winsome guide." —Kirkus Reviews“Who else but Matthew Vollmer would travel in status faux-updates from Justin Bieber to embalming fluids, from a presidential execution order to an Amazon order for cutlery? A thrilling, hilarious book about the difference between privacy and publicity, between exhibition and excavation, between ephemera and art (hint: the saving grace of life on earth is human consciousness).” —David Shields“Becoming conscious of the process by which we are produced may be the only available step to enabling our status as players rather than simply played, though it is no exit from the game itself. And that, to me, is what makes Matthew Vollmer’s fiction compelling at a much deeper level than the play of wit, sensibility, and intelligence in his craft.” —The Brooklyn Rail“Irresistible” —The New York Times"Vollmer's writing is my new favorite example of what it must be like to see a life flash before your eyes." —Fiction Advocate