Derek Nikitas

Derek Nikitas is the author of two novels for adults, Pyres and The Long Division, and the Young Adult novel Extra Life. His two thriller novellas co-written with America’s bestselling author James Patterson will be released later in 2016.

 Pyres (St. Martin’s Minotaur, 2007) was nominated for an Edgar Award for Best First Novel by an American Author. The Long Division (St. Martin’s Minotaur) was a Washington Post Book World Best Book of 2009, and the French translations of both novels were nominated for the Elle Magazine Reader’s Choice Award.

Derek received his Masters in Fine Arts in Fiction Writing from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and his PhD in English (Creative Writing Concentration) from Georgia State University. He has also been a Walter E. Dakin Fellow at the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and a visiting faculty member for the Dzanc Books Disquiet International literary program in Lisbon, Portugal.

He is an Assistant Professor of English (Creative Writing) at The University of Rhode Island in Kingston, RI.