John Paul Carillo is a writer currently shopping two projects: BAD ADJUNCT, an urban campus novel set during the Bush years; and REAL AMERICAN PEOPLE, a book that explores the theater of American politics, from the viewpoint of rival barflies, spanning the Clinton years to the morning of the 2016 election.

In the working class milieu, John has been nominated for a 2021 Pushcart Prize for “Sick at Work at Amazon”, a work of reportage about conditions at a New Jersey Fulfillment Center, first published at Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood in June of 2020.

An excerpt from BAD ADJUNCT, “America Is Not the Future”, was published at Vol. 1 Brooklyn.

John is the author of the libretto for composer Anna Meadors’ chamber-opera, Manifesto on the Ledge, commissioned and performed by Rhymes with Opera, at the Bank Street Theatre in Manhattan, a work that is currently being revised into a full-length opera.

He is also the composer of “Hymn,” and “Thunderdome,” with Meadors on alto and baritone saxophones, songs which were featured on NPR’s All Songs Considered in January 2019 and November 2020, respectively.

A graduate of The Writing Seminars MFA at The Johns Hopkins University, John studied with Alice McDermott and Stephen Dixon, and was nominated for the Best New American Voices series by Alice, for his story “Little Hellhounds.”