Aryn Kyle (born January 22, 1978) is an American novelist and short story writer. She is a 2008 recipient of the Alex Awards.

Life

Kyle was born in Peoria, Illinois and grew up in

Grand Junction, Colorado Grand Junction is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Mesa County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 65,560 at the 2020 United States Census, making Grand Junction the 17th mo ...

. She graduated from Colorado State University in 2001 and received an MFA in fiction from the

University of Montana The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. UM reported 10,962 undergraduate and graduate students in the fa ...

in 2003. Kyle’s first short story, “Foaling Season”, was published by

The Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

and went on to win a 2004 National Magazine Award in fiction. “Foaling Season” became the first chapter of Kyle’s debut novel, '' The God of Animals'', which was published by Scribner in March 2007 and became a national bestseller. '' The God of Animals'' is the story of Alice Winston, a young girl coming of age on her family’s rundown horse ranch. The novel is set in the fictional town of Desert Valley, which Kyle based on

. '' The God of Animals'' won an

Alex Award The Alex Awards annually recognize "ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults ages 12 through 18". Essentially, the award is a listing by the American Library Association parallel to its annual Best Books for Young A ...

, a

Spur Award for Best Novel of the West This is a list of the works of fiction which have won the Spur Award for Best Novel of the West: * 1953 - Best Historical Novel: "The Wheel and the Hearth" by Lucia Moore * 1954 - Best Historical Novel: "Journey by the River" by John Prescott * 19 ...

and was named by

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential econo ...

as the Number One Fiction Debut of 2007. Kyle has had short stories published in

Ploughshares ''Ploughshares'' is an American literary journal established in 1971 by DeWitt Henry and Peter O'Malley in The Plough and Stars, an Irish pub in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Since 1989, ''Ploughshares'' has been based at Emerson College in Bos ...

The Georgia Review ''The Georgia Review'' is a literary journal based in Athens, Georgia. Founded at University of Georgia in 1947, the journal features poetry, fiction, essays, book reviews, and visual art. The journal has won National Magazine Awards for Fiction ...

The Alaska Quarterly Review ''The Alaska Quarterly Review'' is a biannual literary journal founded in 1980 by Ronald Spatz and James Liszka at the University of Alaska Anchorage and continued unaffiliated in 2020.July 1, 2020 University of Alaska Anchorage ended its financi ...

, StoryQuarterly, and in the anthologies Best New American Voices 2005, and Best American Short Stories 2007. Her short story collection, ''Boys and Girls Like You and Me'', was released by Scribner in the spring of 2010.

Work

Novels and collections

*'' The God of Animals'' (2007) *''Boys and Girls Like You and Me'' (2010)

Short stories

*"Copper Queen" from ''The Georgia Review'' *"Nine" from ''The Atlantic Monthly'' *"Foaling Season" from ''The Atlantic Monthly'' *"Femme" from ''The Georgia Review'' *"Allegiance" from ''Ploughshares'' *"Brides" from ''Best New American Voices 2005'' *"The Company of Strangers" from ''The Alaska Quarterly Review'' *"Little Deaths" from ''StoryQuarterly'' *"Employee/Manager Relations" from ''Conversely.com''

Awards

* National Magazine Award, 2004, 2022 *

Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award The Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award was an award given annually to beginning women writers. Established in 1995 by American author Rona Jaffe, the Foundation offers grants to writers of poetry, fiction, and creative nonfiction. The award wa ...

, 2005 *

Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award The Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Award, also known as the Pacific Northwest Book Award (PNBA), is an annual award presented by the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association to recognize "excellence in writing" from the American Pacif ...

, 2008 *Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association Award, 2008 * American Library Association Alex Award, 2008 *

, 2008

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kyle, Aryn 1978 births Living people 21st-century American novelists American women short story writers American women novelists People from Grand Junction, Colorado Colorado State University alumni University of Montana alumni Novelists from Colorado 21st-century American women writers Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers' Award winners 21st-century American short story writers