Mr Alex Pickett
I am a practice-based Doctoral Researcher in Creative Writing with funding from the Quintin Hogg Trust. I hold an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Florida and a BA (with distinction) from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
My debut novel, The Restaurant Inspector, was published in 2021 by the University of Wisconsin Press. Camera Lake, my short story collection, was published (also by UW Press) in July 2024. I have published thirteen short stories in literary journals such as The Southern Review and Subtropics. My novel was selected as the Wisconsin Public Radio "Book of the Month" in May 2024. My short stories have been nominated or shortlisted for awards like the Pushcart Prize, and my short story, “Texting,” was reprinted in an anthology.
I have held many jobs outside of writing and academia. I inspected restaurants and hot dog carts in New York City. I supervised a warehouse in Fairbanks, Alaska. I worked at two cemeteries and four factories. I have been a movie extra, a book researcher, a copywriter, and a winter caretaker at Denali State Park. Most recently, I was a manager and overnight project worker at a homeless shelter in London.
My practice-based project asks how experimentations with memory loss might animate and offer new directions in the forms of literary fiction. My primary focus is on memory loss due to amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI) but will incorporate other memory-loss conditions (such as anterograde or retrograde amnesia) on the condition that there is no accompanying loss of thinking or reasoning skills.
I am conducting my analysis and research with an eye towards creating a fictional voice for aMCI as well as mapping a potential future for a character who lacks the ability to create memories. This entails both a literary study into fictional character development without the use of memory as well as a real-world neuropsychological investigation into how the mind functions when memory is impaired. These elements will be incorporated into a novel that will illuminate and build upon my research.