Shonna Humphrey
Director of Sponsored Programs and Research Compliance
Humanities Lecturer
Coram Library, Room 222
207-786-6243
About
As a writer living in her home state of Maine, Shonna Humphrey slings words for cash, compassion, or glory. She also teaches, tells groups how to improve systems, and offers development consultation. She spends most of her days working at Bates College as the Director of Sponsored Programs and Research Compliance, where she helps faculty members find and manage funding for their project ideas.
Her role at Bates also includes teaching a first-year seminar called “Tell Us Your Story: personal exploration via narrative nonfiction.” While she welcomes ALL students, Shonna is a proud first-generation student from Aroostook County, and she shares a special affinity with first-gen students and those from lower income communities.
Publications
Shonna is the author of the novel, Show Me Good Land (Down East Books), and her essays have appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Times, Salon, and Down East magazine. For two years, she contributed to The Maine Sunday Telegram as a weekly food writer. Her memoir Dirt Roads and Diner Pie (Central Recovery Press) chronicles a road trip through the southern United States with her husband as they dealt with the child sex abuse he saw, heard, feared, and experienced while a student at New Jersey’s now-defunct American Boychoir School.
Shonna wrote the book, Gin, as part of Bloomsbury’s Object Lesson series, and her essay “Pot Brownies and Diner Breakfast” is a contribution to the anthology, Breaking Bread: essays from New England on Food, Hunger, and Family (Beacon Press) to benefit Blue Angel Maine, a hunger relief organization.
Expertise
Shonna possesses a deep understanding of both the art and business associated with professional writing, and she is particularly interested in how words can leverage social change. She has taught courses at personal enrichment, high school, undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate levels, with a particular expertise in generative storytelling. She holds a terminal degree from Bennington College, where her work explored how to tell family stories and still be welcome at Thanksgiving.
In addition to the creative aspects of her career, Shonna possesses 20 years of experience with fundraising, marketing, and fiscal capacity building. She specializes in complex regulatory language, and she helps translate this language to its practical application. Prior to Bates, Shonna was the executive director of the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance, helped mitigate homelessness in both Maine and Washington, DC, and served with AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps during its earliest iteration.
Personal Website
Books
Breaking Bread: Essays from New England on Food, Hunger, and Family (Beacon Press), Contributor.
Gin (Bloomsbury), Author.
Dirt Roads and Diner Pie: one couple’s road trip through child sexual abuse (Central Recovery Press), Author.
Show Me Good Land: a novel (Down East Books), Author.
Selected Essays
“Pot Brownies and Diner Breakfast.” Beer and Weed Magazine.
“On Marrying a Survivor of Child Sex Abuse.” The Atlantic.
“Renewing a Tattoo.” The New York Times.
“Setting the Stage.” Down East Magazine.
Radio
“You Shook Me All Night Long.” Maine Public Broadcasting.