Kiara Brinkman (born November 29, 1979) is an American writer born in

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...

now living in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. Her 2007 novel, ''Up High in the Trees'', was published by Grove Press and was widely reviewed. Brinkman has also authored several short stories. Her work has appeared in ''

One Story ''One Story'' is a literary magazine which publishes 12 issues a year, each issue containing a single short story. The magazine was founded in 2002 by writers Hannah Tinti Hannah Tinti (born 1973) is an American writer and the co-founder of '' ...

'', ''Pinelboyz'', '' Failbetter'' and elsewhere. Her contribution to ''

McSweeney’s McSweeney's Publishing is an American non-profit publishing house founded by Dave Eggers in 1998 and headquartered in San Francisco. Initially publishing the literary journal'' Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern'', the company has moved to n ...

'', "Counting Underwater," was named one of the 100 Other Distinguished Stories of 2005 in ''The Best American Short Stories 2006''.

Biography

Brinkman graduated from Brown University and earned an MFA from

Goddard College Goddard College is a progressive education private liberal arts low-residency college with three locations in the United States: Plainfield, Vermont; Port Townsend, Washington; and Seattle, Washington. The college offers undergraduate and gra ...

. Recently, Brinkman has worked with children as a teacher and tutor, and has led workshops at

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was ...

and 826 Valencia (a youth arts center in San Francisco). Brinkman is currently employed part-time at the Booksmith, an independent bookstore located in San Francisco. Upon its release in 2007, ''Up High in the Trees'' earned positive reviews in the ''Washington Post'', ''San Francisco Chronicle'', ''Los Angeles Times'', and ''Chicago Tribune'' (where it was named one of the newspaper’s "Favorite Books of 2007"). Writing in the ''New York Times'', novelist Madison Smartt Bell noted, "Like Faulkner’s Benjy from ''The Sound and the Fury'', Sebastian is most unusual for the lyrical intensity of his inner life, and the strongest impression this fine debut leaves is his nicely achieved voice, which is moving without being precious." The book also received praise from writers Cristina García, Maud Casey, and

Dave Eggers Dave Eggers (born March 12, 1970) is an American writer, editor, and publisher. He wrote the 2000 best-selling memoir ''A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius''. Eggers is also the founder of ''Timothy McSweeney's Quarterly Concern'', a lite ...

. ''Up High in the Trees'' was released in softcover in the summer of 2008. In 2021, Brinkman will publish a graphic novel, ''Lucy in the Sky'', illustrated by her husband, Sean Chiki.

References

External links

Author websiteAuthor interview Audio clip on KQED Goodreads profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brinkman, Kiara 1979 births Writers from San Francisco 21st-century American novelists American women short story writers Living people Writers from Omaha, Nebraska American women novelists Brown University alumni Goddard College alumni 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American short story writers