Danielle Pafunda Headshot

Danielle Pafunda

Assistant Professor

Department of English
College of Liberal Arts

585-475-7988
Office Location

Danielle Pafunda

Assistant Professor

Department of English
College of Liberal Arts

585-475-7988

Select Scholarship

Creative Non-fiction
Pafunda, Danielle. Dear Friend. Essay Daily, 2021.
Full Length Book
Pafunda, Danielle. Spite. First ed. New York, NY: The Operating System, 2020. Print.
Pafunda, Danielle. Beshrew. Block Island, RI: Dusie Press, 2019. Print.
Pafunda, Danielle. The Book of Scab. Los Angeles, CA: Ricochet Editions, 2018. Print.
Pafunda, Danielle. The Dead Girls Speak in Unison. Princeton, NJ: Bloof Books, 2017. Print.
Pafunda, Danielle. Natural History Rape Museum. Princeton, NJ: Bloof Books, 2013. Print.
Pafunda, Danielle. Manhater. Block Island, RI: Dusie Press, 2012. Print.
Pafunda, Danielle. Iatrogenic: Their Testimonies. Las Cruces, NM: Noemi Press, 2010. Print.
Book Chapter
Pafunda, Danielle. "I dwell in the road to the sea everyone travels and dwell in your house preparing to haunt you if I’m not doing much later and dwell on your face and if you don’t aggrieve me I or my daughters might could come back." BAX: Best American Poetry 2020. Ed. Carmen Maria Machado and Joyelle McSweeney. Middleton, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2020. 287-289. Print.
Group of Poems
Pafunda, Danielle. My bull-faced tender friend was right. APR: American Poetry Review, 2020.
Pafunda, Danielle. Uut. Pleiades, 2020.

Currently Teaching

ENGL-212
3 Credits
Creative writing in the 21st century is no longer bound to the printed page; it exists in many forms, across many media. This course introduces students to multi-media creative writing through generative writing techniques, specifically focusing on language as the basic building block of writing. Exercises in reading, writing, workshop, and revision will teach students techniques to manipulate language, construct narrative through non-linear approaches, and generate ideas for particular media through linguistic play. Students will learn elements of craft specific to particular forms and media. Class workshops will provide the opportunity to give and receive feedback as well as participate in collaborative creation. Students will produce creative work for digital and location-based distribution as well as for live performance, therefore highlighting the diversity of physical and virtual media where 21st-century creative writing takes place.
ENGL-386
3 Credits
This course focuses on the collaboration construction of fictional worlds. Students will learn to think critically about features of fictional worlds, such as the social, political, and economic structures that influence daily life for the characters who inhabit that world. Students will also participate in extensive character development exercises, and then write short fiction from these characters’ perspectives describing the challenges they face in these worlds. Students will critique each other’s fiction and submit revised work. Each class will include considerations of sophisticated fictional worlds in print and in other media and discuss world building features relevant to teach.
ENGL-390
3 Credits
This course is for students who want to explore the techniques of a single genre of creative writing and add to their skills as a creative writer. Through reading and discussion, students will see their own writing in a larger context. Reading/reflection and writing/revision will be emphasized all semester. The focus will be on the creation of creative works and the learning of stylistic and craft techniques. Ongoing work will be discussed with peer editors, which will not only help students rethink their work but teach them to become better editors. Group critiques will provide the opportunity to give and receive helpful feedback. Each class will rely extensively on the creative writing workshop model, and will focus on a specific genre of print-based creative writing. The course may be taken up to three times for a total of 9 credit hours, as long as the topics are different.
ENGL-490
3 Credits
This course is for students who want to explore the techniques of a single genre of creative writing and have already completed a creative writing workshop. Through reading and discussion, they will see their own writing in a larger context, culminating in a substantial body of work ready for publication. Reading/reflection and writing/revision will be emphasized all semester. The focus will be on the creation of creative works and the learning of stylistic and craft techniques. Ongoing work will be discussed with peer editors, which will not only help students rethink their work but teach them to become better editors. Group critiques will provide the opportunity to give and receive helpful feedback. Each class will rely extensively on the creative writing workshop model, and will focus on a specific genre of print-based creative writing. The course can be repeated up to three times, for 9 semester credit hours, as long the topics are different.
ENGL-511
3 Credits
This course is for students who have completed a college level writing course creative writing workshop and want to explore in-depth a literary genre or add to their skills as a creative writer whether interested in poetry, fiction, non-fiction, or a combination of genresa specific topic within creative writing. The focus will be on the creation of a significant piece of writing for a final project. In addition to planning and producing a single, sustained creative work, students will complete other exercises and assignments in order to experiment with other genresa variety of writing techniques. Through reading and discussion they will see their own writing in a larger context. Weekly Regular class critiques will provide the opportunity to give and receive helpful feedback.
ENGL-599
1 - 6 Credits
A program of study executed by an individual student with assistance and guidance by an instructor, outside a regular classroom setting. Guidelines for designing and gaining approval for an independent study are provided in College of Liberal Arts Policy I.D.
WGST-399
3 Credits
This small-group, discussion-oriented, intensive-writing seminar examines some area of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (chosen by the instructor, announced in the course subtitle, and developed in the syllabus). The seminar is based on collaborative learning, discussions, and various forms of formal and informal writing understood as an integral part of the critical exploration of WGSS-related topics.