Since 1995, Allison Parker has sharpened her pencils to work as an independent editor, refining texts for: traditional print publishers in the academic and literary arenas; literary periodicals; online educational outlets; and individual writers (fiction and nonfiction).
Her expertise has been tapped by two independent publishers since the inception of their imprints: On an ongoing basis Ms. Parker serves as Senior Manuscript Editor for OV Books, the short-fiction imprint launched in 2005 by the executive editor of Other Voices magazine and currently published by DZANC. In December 2008, Ms. Parker began editorial work on the debut title from Emerald Bay Books, and she continues with Emerald Bay as Consulting Editor.
In addition, Ms. Parker spent close to five years in marketing and public relations, working for top-level employers such as Ogilvy, Adams & Rinehart (now Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide), Edelman Public Relations, and the Chicago Sun-Times. Her work in marketing has spanned diverse industries and subjects such as travel and tourism, healthcare, public education, technology, hospitality, food and beverage, among others.
For a full list of clients and experience, and to read endorsements, please click here.
Scroll down for highlights of projects to which Ms. Parker has contributed her editorial talents. A complete list of project titles may be found here.
Things That Pass for Love
by Allison Amend (OV Books/DZANC, 2008)
Whether writing about a small town murder, homeschooling, experiments on lab mice, or the disintegration of a long marriage over the course of a game of golf, Amend's characters are more than whip-smart and laugh-out-loud funny, they are chillingly real, memorable people looking for love--or what passes for it.
link to OV Books/DZANC to view and purchase
A Stranger Among Us: Stories of Cross-Cultural Collision and Connection
OV Books, 2007
Thirty acclaimed writers of international fiction explore "the stranger" in this anthology featuring tales of cultural clashes and bonds. These stories of disparate experience travel beyond politics and multicultural manners to become an essential discussion of otherness. Contributors include Nathan Englander, Laila Lalami, Ana Menendez, Jospi Novakovich, Wanda Coleman, Tony D'Souza, Samrat Upadhyay, Mary Yukari Waters, Luis Alfaro, and Amanda Eyre Ward, as well as other accomplished writers from Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, and Zimbabwe--some published for the first time in the U.S.
Edited by Stacy Bierlein, with foreword by Aimee Liu. Allison Parker as Contributing Editor.
link to OV Books/U of IL Press to view and purchase
Aspects of Alterity:
Levinas, Marcel, and the Contemporary Debate
by Brian Treanor (Fordham UP, November 2006)
As summarized in The Chronicle of Higher Education, this book "[c]ontrasts the philosophical thought of Emmanuel Levinas and Gabriel Marcel in a study of what it means for something or someone to be other than the self."
link to Fordham UP website to view and purchase
Stanley Cavell's American Dream: Shakespeare, Philosophy, and Hollywood Movies
by Lawrence F. Rhu (Fordham UP, May 2006)
Stanley Cavell is considered both a first-rate literary artist and a compelling philosopher of the everyday. Rhu's monograph explores Cavell's writings along converging lines of thought rather than in isolated categories.
link to Fordham UP website to view and purchase
My Sister's Continent
by Gina Frangello (Chiasmus Press, January 2006)
As reviewed by Donna Seaman of Booklist, "Frangello has parlayed Freud's vision of female sexuality as a 'dark continent' into a boldly explicit debut novel in which high-strung characters struggle to decode the mysteries of the self while their bodies express what their minds repress. Frangello is uncanny and mesmerizing in this smart, suspenseful psychosexual drama as she choreographs traumatic, possibly criminal, family dynamics, and delves fearlessly into questions of identity, abuse, power, trust, trespass, and delusion."
link to Amazon to view and purchase
Other Voices
Other Voices, an all-fiction magazine established in 1984 (folded 2007) and dedicated to publishing diverse, original fiction by authors ranging from literary bestsellers to leaders of the independent presses to cutting-edge experimentalists; also a proud forum for previously unpublished and emerging writers. Each issue of Other Voices featured the best in current short fiction, plus fiction reviews and interviews with leading writers.
Executive Editor Gina Frangello; Allison Parker as Contributing Editor.
link to Other Voices to view and purchase back copies
Falling Backwards: Stories of Fathers and Daughters
Hourglass Books, 2004
Nineteen vivid stories explore the often charged and tender relationship between a daughter and her father. From such notable authors as Pam Houston, Sandra Cisneros, Aimee Bender, Antonya Nelson, Bliss Broyard, Heather Sellers, Peter Ho Davies, Steve Almond, Dan Chaon, and others--including exciting new work from writers of our own discovery.
Guest edited by Gina Frangello of Other Voices, with foreword by Elissa Schappell of Tin House and Vanity Fair. Allison Parker as Assistant Editor.
link to Hourglass Books to view and purchase
Fish Stories
Collectives I-IV
Four volumes make up the set, each with its unique combination of award-winning short fiction and poetry. Published annually from 1995 to 1998 by WorkShirts Writing Center in Chicago, Fish Stories has a brief but spectacular story of its own, having gained significant recognition during its press run in the competitive world of independent literary publishers.
Editor-in-Chief Amy G. Davis; Allison Parker as Fiction Editor and Collective IV Production Manager.
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