Harrison School for the Arts (Lakeland, FL)

Clifford Parody holds an MFA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and currently lives in Lakeland, Florida with his girlfriend, dog, and daughter. He heads up the Creative Writing Department at Harrison School for the Arts, works as an adjunct professor at Florida Southern College, where he teaches a course on comic books, and teaches middle school poetry, playwriting, short stories, and worldbuilding courses for the Ashely Gibson Barnett Museum spring and summer camp programs. Parody received the Noel Callow Award from the American Academy of Poets and was also nominated for Great Britain’s Forward Prize. His work has appeared internationally in Forklift, Ohio, Neon Magazine UK, Backlash Journal UK, Terminus Magazine, and The Greensboro Review, among other publications. Before becoming a teacher, he worked as a journalist for The Ledger, and was named in the Newspaper Association of America’s 30 Under 30 list for his in-depth reporting on untested sexual assault kits in Florida, which led, in part, to changes in legislation. For this and other reporting, he was also a finalist for the Society of Professional Journalism Sunshine State Awards. He is currently working on completing a poetry manuscript and a creative non-fiction graphic novel script.