Cason E. O'Banion

Adjunct Instructor
MFA, Antioch and USC/LA

cobanion@lsu.edu
11 Allen Hall

Biography

Cason O'Banion is a writer and adjunct member of the English Department at LSU, currently teaching legal writing. He got his Bachelor’s in Creative Writing and Juris Doctorate from LSU, and has an MFA from Antioch and USC in Los Angeles. His debut novel, Chinese New Year (JMH Publishing, 2023), made the very long list for The Thurber Prize for American Humor, and his essay collection Fire Ants: Essays In and Around Texarkana came out in November 2025 through Stephen F. Austin University Press. His work can be found in Whalebone Magazine, The Hyacinth Review, The Dead Mule, Powder Out Press, and more across the internet. A Pushcart Prize nominee, O'Banion has also been a finalist in multiple New Yorker cartoon caption contests. He and his wife have four kids (Flannery, Henry, Sonny, and Corinne), and he manages a hyper-successful fantasy baseball team. 

Area(s) of Interest

Southern Gothic, works of Bill Waterson, satire