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    Dawn Reno Langley

    Dawn Reno Langley’s published work includes 28 books (nonfiction, novels and children’s books); hundreds of articles in regional, national and international publications; poetry, short stories and essays. Her short fiction and essays have both won awards, and her work has been nominated for Pushcart Prizes several times. A recipient of fellowships from the Vermont Studio Center and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, she is also a Fulbright scholar and received a fellowship to research civil rights in Mississippi from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Her MFA in Fiction is from Vermont College and her PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies is from The Union Institute and University. Currently, she is dean of general education at a small college in North Carolina.

    Dawn Reno Langley

    Nonfiction

    The Countries of New York

    Dawn Reno Langley·
    There's a section of New York State, on the eastern border of Lake Ontario, where the town names make you feel like you've gone around the world. I read the names out loud to my two-year-old daughter—Mexico, Syracuse, Rome, Poland—as I watch the snow swirl around the dark streets outside the bus windows. We are traveling from Gouverneur, New York to Everett, Massachusetts. It is my daughter's first Greyhound bus ride, and it is my first time returning home after running away from my abusive ex-husband.