A novelist, short story writer, and essayist, in recent years Peter Mountford has also become a popular writing coach and instructor with clients all over the world. His former clients and students have published widely, and include two recent New York Times bestsellers.
Author of the novels A Young Man's Guide to Late Capitalism (2012 Washington State Book Award in fiction), and The Dismal Science (NYT editor’s choice). his next book, a collection of short stories called Detonator, is now out from Four Way Books.
Peter’s short fiction has appeared in Paris Review, Guernica, Missouri Review, Ploughshares, Southern Review, and Boston Review, where he won second place in the 2007 contest judged by George Saunders. His personal essays have appeared in The Atlantic, New York Times (Modern Love column), The New York Times Magazine, The Sun, Granta, and elsewhere. He’s also contributed feature articles to Poets & Writers, Writers’ Digest (five times), and the Guardian.
A fellow of Yaddo and Bread Loaf, Peter's work has been awarded grants from The Elizabeth George Foundation, the city of Seattle, 4Culture, and others. In 2016, he received the Gar LaSalle Storyteller Award for a fiction writer in Washington State.
He regularly teaches and coaches writers through Mountford Writing, which also offers a popular newsletter for writers, called The Hook. The former events curator at Hugo House, Peter is currently on faculty at the low-residency MFA program at the University of Nevada at Reno, Lake Tahoe.
Peter has two kids and currently lives in Seattle.