Edwards, Kim 1958-

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EDWARDS, Kim 1958-

PERSONAL:

Born May 4, 1958, in Killeen, TX; married Thomas Clayton, 1987; children: two daughters. Education: Attended Auburn Community College; Colgate University, B.A., 1981; University of Iowa, M.F.A., 1983, M.A. (linguistics), 1987.

ADDRESSES: Home—Lexington, KY. Office—Department of English, University of Kentucky, 1355 Patterson Office Tower 0027, Lexington, KY 40506. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Fiction writer and educator. Visiting professor, University of Kentucky, 2003. Taught in M.F.A. programs at Washington University and Warren Wilson College; spent five years teaching in Malaysia, Japan, and Cambodia.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Pushcart Prize, for short story "The Way It Felt to Be Falling"; PEN/Hemingway Award finalist, for The Secrets of a Fire King; National Magazine Award for Fiction; Nelson Algren Award, 1990, for short story "Sky Juice"; grants from National Endowment for the Arts, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, Seaside Institute, Kentucky Arts Council, and Kentucky Foundation for Women; Whiting Writer's Award, 2002.

WRITINGS:

The Secrets of a Fire King: Stories, W. W. Norton (New York, NY), 1997.

Stories have appeared in periodicals, including Paris Review, Redbook, Michigan Quarterly Review, North American Review, Iowa Woman, Threepenny Review, Chicago Tribune, Ploughshares, and Zoetrope.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

A novel, Capturing Light.

SIDELIGHTS:

Kim Edwards has published many short stories in journals that include the Paris Review, Red-book, Chicago Tribune, and Ploughshares. She wrote her first short story in a fiction workshop while a student at Colgate University. "The Way It Felt to Be Falling," originally published in Threepenny Review, won the Pushcart Prize and is included in Edwards's first book, The Secrets of a Fire King: Stories.

The Secrets of a Fire King, which Nina Sonenberg in the New York Times Book Review deemed an "accomplished" debut, presents stories that deal with a wide range of themes and settings. Many refer to Asia, where Edwards spent five years traveling and teaching. In "Spring, Mountain, Sea," for example, a U.S. soldier's Asian bride learns about American foods and customs from the couple's neighbors, but their response to her gift of gratitude turns her away from the American culture. In "Gold," a young man's life is affected when gold is discovered in his Malaysian village, while "The Way It Felt to Be Falling" tells how a young woman learns about her inner strength when she suddenly decides to attempt a sky dive with a friend. Chicago Tribune Books contributor Patricia Lear described this story as sophisticated and brilliantly constructed. "The stories are impeccable, a treasure," wrote Lear, who observed that each piece "possesses the breadth of a novel." In the Hudson Review critic Tom Wilhelmus wrote tha, t "Rich in detail and at home with abstract ideas, Kim Edwards' stories mark an impressive beginning for a talented new storyteller."