Kim Adrian is the author of two books of lyric criticism (Dear Knausgaard and Sock) and a memoir, The Twenty-Seventh Letter of the Alphabet. Several of her shorter works have been listed as Notable or Distinguished in the Best American Essays, Best American Short Stories, and the Pushcart Prize anthologies. Her writing has been supported by the Bread Loaf Writing Seminars, the Edward Albee Foundation, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and others. She has taught creative writing at Brown University and currently teaches independently. She edited the anthology The Shell Game: Writers Play with Borrowed Forms, and is the creator of Write On, a craft-oriented newsletter for writers.
BOOKS
Creative Nonfiction
2020 Dear Knausgaard. San Francisco: Fiction Advocate Press. Paperback, 194 pages.
2018 The Twenty-Seventh Letter of the Alphabet. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. Paperback, 304 pages.
2017 Sock. New York & London: Bloomsbury. Paperback, 144 pages.
Edited Volume
2018 The Shell Game: Writers Borrow Readymade Forms. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. Paperback, 276 pages.
International Editions
2022 Dear Knausgaard, UK edition. Norwich: Boiler House Press (scheduled for August).
2021 Sock, Chinese Edition, Shanghai: Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House.
PUBLICATIONS
Creative Nonfiction
2019 “Ten Conversations About My Struggle.” The Gettysburg Review 32.1, 35-46. Notable Mention, Best American Essays 2020, ed. André Aciman, Houghton Mifflin.
2016 “Inky.” The Maine Review 3.1, 111-113.
2016 “The Twenty-Seventh Letter of the Alphabet: Excerpts from a Memoir.” Agni 84, 171-186.
2013 “I Wish I Could Write Like Russell Edson.” Brevity 43 (online).
2013 “Knitting 101.” New World Writing January Special Feature (online).
2012 “Last Cookies.” New World Writing November 13 (online).
2009 “Questionnaire for My Grandfather.” Gettysburg Review 22.4 (winter) 523-536. Translated into Mandarin by Ping Xu for publication in Yangtze River Series.
2009 “How to Buy Peaches.” Tin House 39 (spring) 79-83. Notable Mention, Best American Essays 2010, ed. Christopher Hitchens, Houghton Mifflin.
2009 “Five Photographs.” Ninth Letter 6.1 (spring/summer) 82-94. Special Mention, Pushcart Prize XXXV: Best of the Small Presses, ed. Bill Henderson, Pushcart Press.
2008 “Eight Photographs.” New Ohio Review 4 (fall) 42-57. Special Mention, Pushcart Prize XXXIV: Best of the Small Presses, ed. Bill Henderson, Pushcart Press.
2007 “‘Gooseberries’ and Red Currants.” Tin House 34 (winter) 188-194.
Nonfiction & Criticism
2020 “What to Read When You Want a Good Short Book.” The Rumpus, August 21 (online).
2019 “Listening to What Our Nonfiction is Trying to Tell Us.” Literary Hub May 24 (online).
2018 “Great Liberations: Writing Beyond the Academy.” (with Anna Leahy). Public Books, October 29 (online).
2017 “The Ritual.” O Magazine August, 101.
2008 “On Valentin Papadin’s Teach Yourself to Be a Madman.” Tin House, 37 (fall) 103-107.
2008 “A Pickle of a Novel: Clarice Lispector’s The Passion According to G.H.” Tin House, 35 (spring) 114-116.
2006 “Poe’s Death-Watches and the Architecture of Doubt.” New England Review 27.2, 169-177.
2005 “The Matter of Translation: Wislawa Szymborska’s ‘Conversation with a Rock.’” Gettysburg Review 18.2 (summer) 324-335.
Fiction
2013 “Toast,” Michigan Quarterly Review, 52.1 (winter) 89-98. Distinguished Short Story, Best American Short Stories 2014.
2012 “Why Dim Sum Makes Me Feel Tender.” Seneca Review 42.1/2 (spring/fall) 114-121. Translated into Mandarin by Ping Xu for publication in 作家 Writer Magazine.
2006 “Famous Cake.” Post Road 13, 85-92.
2005 “The Cut.” Crazyhorse 68 (fall) 97-108.
2004 “My Thoughts on Paté.” Agni 60, 32-39.
Refereed Journal Article
2009 “A Prayer for the Future of Everything: On Oë Kenzaburo.” Raritan Review 29.2 (fall) 1-18.
Contributions to Anthologies
2013 Poetry Criticism. Ed. Lawrence J. Trudeau. Vol 198. Layman Poupard Publishing. Detroit; Gale, Cengage, 236-40.
2008 You: an Anthology of Essays Devoted to the Second Person. Eds. Kim Dana Kupperman, Heather G. Simons, James M. Chesbro. Welcome Table Press, 11-24.
Partner: Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA), Amherst, VA, US