Education:

M.A., Literature and Creative Writing, Illinois State University
B.A., English, Elmhurst College
B.A., Biology, Illinois Wesleyan University

Zarina Mullan Plath earned her master’s in literature and creative writing as a Sutherland Fellow at Illinois State University, and while in graduate school she was one of two students in the nation to receive a Ruth Lilly Poetry Fellowship from Poetry Magazine and the Lilly Foundation. She is also a recipient of an Illinois Arts Council Literary Award. Her poetry is included in the anthology Sweeping Beauty (U. of Iowa Press, 2005), as well as various literary magazines, and in 2001 she was featured on the Chicago PBS series Arts Across Illinois. In addition to teaching courses in creative writing and the American short story, she is a children's book reviewer for the nonprofit organization Parents' Choice. Her reading and writing interests include culinary history, South Asian literature (especially in regards to South Asians in America), and children’s literature.