Kim Edwards (born May 4, 1958) is an American

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

and educator. She was born in Killeen, Texas, grew up in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York, and graduated from Colgate University and The University of Iowa, where she earned an MFA in fiction and an MA in linguistics. She is the author of a story collection, ''The Secrets of a Fire King'', which was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award; her stories have been published in ''The Paris Review, Story, Ploughshares, Zoetrope'', and many other periodicals. She has received many awards for the short story as well, including a Pushcart Prize, the National Magazine Award, the Nelson Algren Award, and inclusion in both ''The Best American Short Stories'' and the Symphony Space program ‘Selected Shorts.’ She is the recipient of a Whiting Writers’ Award, as well as grants from the Pennsylvania and Kentucky Arts Councils, the Kentucky Foundation for Women, and the National Endowment for the Arts. ''The Memory Keeper’s Daughter'', her first novel, was a Barnes and Noble Discover Award pick and became a word-of-mouth best-seller, spending 122 consecutive weeks on the New York Times Best Seller list, 20 of those weeks at #1. ''The Memory Keeper’s Daughter'' won the Kentucky Literary Award and the British Book Award, and was chosen as Book of the Year for 2006 by ''USA Today''. Her second novel, ''The Lake of Dreams'', an Independent Booksellers pick, was also an international best seller; her work has been published in more than 32 countries. Currently, Kim is working on a new novel, as well as a collection of related stories.

Early life and education

Edwards was born in Killeen, Texas. When she was two months old, her family moved to upstate New York, where she was raised. Edwards began college at

Cayuga Community College Cayuga Community College, formerly Cayuga County Community College, is a public community college in Cayuga County, New York, United States. It is part of the SUNY system and began in 1953 as Auburn Community College. Its main campus is in Aubu ...

. She transferred to Colgate University in 1979, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in 1981. In 1983, Edwards received a master's degree from the University of

Iowa Writers' Workshop The Iowa Writers' Workshop, at the University of Iowa, is a celebrated graduate-level creative writing program in the United States. The writer Lan Samantha Chang is its director. Graduates earn a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Creative W ...

. Edwards earned a second master of arts degree in linguistics, also from the University of Iowa, in 1987.

Career

She wrote the

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

collection, ''The Secrets of a Fire King'' (1997), which was an alternate for the 1998

PEN/Hemingway Award The PEN/Hemingway Award is awarded annually to a full-length novel or book of short stories by an American author who has not previously published a full-length book of fiction. The award is named after Ernest Hemingway and funded by the Hemingwa ...

, and has won both a Whiting Award and the

Nelson Algren Nelson Algren (born Nelson Ahlgren Abraham; March 28, 1909 – May 9, 1981) was an American writer. His 1949 novel ''The Man with the Golden Arm'' won the National Book Award and was adapted as the 1955 film of the same name. Algren articulated ...

Award. Edwards teaches writing at the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a public land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the university is one of the state ...

. Edwards' 2005 novel, ''

The Memory Keeper's Daughter ''The Memory Keeper's Daughter'' is a novel by American author Kim Edwards that tells the story of a man who gives away his newborn daughter, who has Down syndrome, to one of the nurses. Published by Viking Press in June 2005, the novel garnere ...

'', was named the 2006 Book of the Year by ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgi ...

''. Her most recent novel, ''The Lake of Dreams'', ''New York Times'' Bestseller, was published in January 2011.

Personal life

Edwards married Thomas Clayton in 1987. Edwards and Clayton, who have two daughters together (Abigail and Naomi), reside in Lexington, Kentucky.

Works

Books

* ** "The Great Chain of Being," Originally Published in ''

The Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published works by Jack Kerouac, Phil ...

'', Issue 120, Fall 1991 * *

Short stories

* * *

References

External links

University of Kentucky profileProfile at The Whiting Foundation

Short Biography by BookBrowse

The Memory Keeper's Podcast

Official site for The Memory Keeper's Daughter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Kim Living people 1958 births Iowa Writers' Workshop alumni People from Killeen, Texas Colgate University alumni American women novelists 21st-century American novelists Novelists from Texas Novelists from New York (state) American women short story writers 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American short story writers