Eric Freeze has taught at Wabash College since the fall of 2008. Initially specializing in fiction writing and African American literature, Freeze has since expanded his expertise to include screenwriting, writing for video games, and creative nonfiction. Seminars with Freeze tend to be intense and interactive. He challenges students to push the boundaries of form and to experiment across genres. He has offered immersion courses to the US Virgin Islands and to France and Spain.
Freeze has published short stories, essays, and translations in a variety of periodicals including The Southern Review, Boston Review, and Harvard Review. He has published two collections of short stories, the award-winning Dominant Traits (2012) and Invisible Men (2016). He also writes extensively about his experiences in France. His first is a collection of creative nonfiction titled Hemingway on a Bike. His second and most recent book French Dive: Living More with Less in the South of France chronicles his sabbatical renovating an apartment in Old Nice, France with his spouse and four children. He is currently working on a textbook for teaching writing for video games titled Story Mode and a second memoir titled Breaking Bread with Baldwin.
Freeze is married to academic and birth educator Rixa Freeze and is the father of four bilingual soccer-crazed children. He coaches soccer at MC United in Crawfordsville and Cavigal Football in Nice, France where he lives half the year.
Education
PhD in Fiction Writing: Ohio University, 2004
MA in African American Literature: Brigham Young University, 2000
BA in English: Brigham Young University, 1998
Recent Course Offerings
Creative Writing:
- ENG 110 – Intro to Creative Writing
- ENG 210 – Special Topics in Creative Writing: Screenwriting
- ENG 210 – Special Topics in Creative Writing: Writing for Video Games
- ENG 210 – Special Topics in Creative Writing: Travel Writing. This immersion course included a week-long trip to the US Virgin Islands.
- ENG 211 – Intro to Creative Nonfiction
- ENG 213 – Intro to Fiction Writing
- ENG 311 – Advanced Creative Nonfiction Workshop
- ENG 313 – Advanced Fiction Writing Workshop
- ENG 498/499 – Portfolio Capstone Course
Literature:
- ENG 220 – Survey in American Literature 1900-present
- ENG 270 – Literary Adaptation
- ENG 300 - Modernity in France and Spain. This immersion course included a week-long trip at the end of the semester to Paris and Madrid.
- ENG 310: Postmodern American Literature
- ENG 360: Contemporary African American Women’s Literature
- ENG 370 - American Expatriate Writers in Early 20th Century France. This immersion course included a week-long trip to Paris and the French Riviera.
- ENG 497 - Senior Seminar: Domestic Space in the Works of James Baldwin
- ENG 497 – Senior Seminar: France in 20th and 21st Century African American Literary Imagination
- ENG 497 – Senior Seminar: The Black Arts Movement and Blaxploitation
All-college courses:
- ENG 101: Freshman Composition
- FRT: Men in Tights: Superheroes and Gender. This tutorial investigated the superhero trope in film, comic books, literature, video games, and graphic novels.
- FRT: Girl Power
- FRT: Who Wants to Save the World?
Recent Presentations
| 2021 | “Interactive Writing: Games and Virtual Reality.” May 2021. Futures of Creative Writing Conference. University of East Anglia, UK. |
|---|---|
| “Game On Again: Teaching Writing for Video Games 2.0.” March 2021. Associated Writing Programs Conference. | |
| 2020 | “Raise Your Game: Applying Game Narrative Strategies to Writing Fiction.” March 2020. Associated Writing Programs Conference. San Antonio, TX. |
| 2019 | “Game On: Teaching Writing for Video Games.” March 2019. Associated Writing Programs Conference. Portland, OR. (panel organizer) |
| 2017 | “An Ax to Grind: Writing the Marginal in Creative Nonfiction.” June 2017. NonfictioNOW Conference. Reykjavik, Iceland. |
| “Innocents Abroad: Essaying with Study Abroad Students.” February 2017. Associated Writing Programs Conference. Washington, DC. | |
| 2015 | “Border Crossings.” April 2015. Associated Writing Programs Conference. Minneapolis, MN. (panel organizer) |
| 2014 | “The Doubled Life.” May 2014. Canadian Creative Writers and Writing Programs Conference. Vancouver, BC. |
| 2013 | “Carol Shields: Her Language and Craft.” March 2013. Associated Writing Programs Conference. Boston, MA. (panel organizer) |
Recent Publications
Books:
| 2020 | French Dive, memoir, Slant Books |
|---|---|
| 2016 | Invisible Men, short fiction, Outpost19 |
| 2014 | Hemingway on a Bike, creative nonfiction, University of Nebraska Press |
| 2012 | Dominant Traits, short fiction, Dufour Editions |
| 2011 | Dominant Traits, short fiction, Oberon Press |