“Tognazzini deconstructs universal moments with language, revealing underlying beauty and bliss.”
About
Anthony Tognazzini is the author of the fiction collection I Carry A Hammer in My Pocket for Occasions Such As These (BOA). He has received an Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council, and fellowships from Yaddo, Millay, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, and the Djerassi Resident Artists Program. He teaches Creative Writing at Oberlin College in Ohio.
Writing
Short stories by Anthony Tognazzini have appeared in Electric Literature, Guernica, The Literary Review, and Crazyhorse among other journals. His work has been anthologized in the Norton Anthology of short fiction, New Micro.
Book
The fiction collection I Carry A Hammer in My Pocket for Occasions Such As These by Anthony Tognazzini was published by BOA.
News
Anthony Tognazzini's story "Neighbors" was part of an evening recorded at Symphony Space by Selected Shorts with Electric Literature. It was performed by actors Michael Imperioli and Cristin Milioti.
EXCERPT from “I Want To Drive the Forklift”
Every time I rounded a corner at the south end of the warehouse, I saw the forklift by the loading dock, one side concealed in shadow, the other gleaming yellow in the overhead lights. When I asked Mr. Diberkorn if I could take it for a spin, he said if I ever touched the forklift he’d break my fucking face.
—from “I Want To Drive the Forklift” in Crazyhorse, Spring 2012
EXCERPT from "Falling Autobiography"
Wind whips my clothes, the skin on my face as I fall through nimbus clouds, hand on the ripcord, . Fields come into view, and in them I see the town where I grew up, a tiny dot growing in size. When the cloth catches, what will it sound like? I envision being lifted, and the beauty of the spiral when my parachute is full.
—from “Falling Autobiography" in Forklift, Ohio, Fall 2013