Jensen, Kim 1966-

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Jensen, Kim 1966-

PERSONAL:

Born 1966; married Zahi Khamis (an artist).

ADDRESSES:

Home—Baltimore, MD. Office— Community College of Baltimore County, 7201 Rossville Blvd., E-326, Baltimore, MD 31237-3899. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Hast taught in California, France, and the Middle East; Community College of Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD, assistant professor of English.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Raymond Carver Prize for Short Fiction, 2001.

WRITINGS:

The Woman I Left Behind (novel), Curbstone Press (Willimantic, CT), 2006.

Contributor to periodicals, including Al Jadid, Rain Taxi Review, Al Ahram Weekly, Oakland Tribune, So to Speak, Gathering of the Tribes, and Poetry Flash. Member of editorial board, Baltimore Review.

SIDELIGHTS:

Kim Jensen has encountered a broad range of lifestyles through her travels, living and teaching in California, France, and the Middle East. A strong proponent of human rights, she combines her beliefs with her experiences in her writing. Jensen's debut novel, The Woman I Left Behind, traces the experiences of a young Californian woman named Irene, who meets Khalid at a Southern California university in the mid-1980s. The two are drawn to each other, and Irene is moved by Khalid's story of losing his parents when he was only eight to an Israeli Defense Forces bombing. Politics plays heavily in the development of their relationship. A Kirkus Reviews critic remarked: "The lesser story (boy-meets-girl) undermines the greater one (East meets West). But the tale is well crafted, with its scenes of high drama and great sex." Emily Cook, writing for Booklist, found some of the details overwritten, but ultimately called Jensen's effort a "penetrating portrait of a young couple's struggle to overcome cultural differences."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Al-Ahram Weekly, February 23-March 1, 2006, review of The Woman I Left Behind.

Baltimore City Paper, March 29, 2006, Joab Jackson, "Criss Cross Cultural: Writer Kim Jensen Fuses the Personal with the Political and Confronts Literary and Cultural Dogma in the Process."

Booklist, February 15, 2005, Emily Cook, review of The Woman I Left Behind, p. 45.

Jordan Times, May 8, 2006, review of The Woman I Left Behind.

Kirkus Reviews, January 1, 2006, review of The Woman I Left Behind, p. 10.

Publishers Weekly, November 28, 2005, review of The Woman I Left Behind, p. 20.