Kimberly Priest
Assistant Professor
She/Her/Hers
Email: priestk1@msu.edu
Website: kimberlyannpriest.com
Research Areas
Gender Violence; Narrative Identities; Dark Rhetorics; Body Politics; Poetics & Hybrid Texts; Trauma; Motherhood; Environmental Issues; Spirituality & Mental Health
Profile
Kimberly Ann Priest is the author of Slaughter the One Bird (Sundress Publications)–a finalist for the American Best Book Awards–and the chapbooks The Optimist Shelters in Place (Small Harbor Press), Parrot Flower (Glass Poetry Press, ), Still Life (PANK), and White Goat Black Sheep (FLP). She is an MFA graduate in Creative Writing from New England College, already holding an MA in English Language & Literature from Central Michigan University. A proud Michigan native, she has taught composition and creative writing courses for Michigan State University, Central Michigan University, and Alma College, and participated in local initiatives to increase awareness concerning sexual assault, survivorship, and healing through artistic expression. Her writing carefully observes the intersections of gender violence, narrative identities, embodiment, trauma, motherhood, and environmental issues as well as survival, wildness, joy & grief. Winner of the Heartland Poetry Prize in the New Poetry from the Midwest Anthology by New American Press (2019), her poetry has appeared in several literary journals including North Dakota Quarterly, Salamander, Borderlands, RELIEF, RiverSedge, The Meadow, and The Berkeley Poetry Review. She has served as a book reviewer for NewPages, editorial intern with Sundress Publications, summer intern for Black Earth Institute, and received residencies from Writer’s House PGH (as the James Dolan Writer in Residence), Owsley Fork Writer’s Sanctuary, Monson Arts and Sundress Academy. Currently, she is an associate poetry editor for Nimrod International Journal of Prose and Poetry.
Education
MFA, New England College
MA, Central Michigan University
BA, Regent University
Representative Work
https://www.kimberlyannpriest.com/books
Awards and Recognitions
Finalist of the American Best Book Awards
Winner of the 2019 Heartland Poetry Prize
Semi-finalist for Still Life in The New Delta Review Chapbook Competition hosted by The New Delta Review
Semi-finalist for Parrot Flower in The Black River Chapbook Competition hosted by Black Lawrence Press
Poetry Winner for “Record of Wrongs” in Women Under Scrutiny: The (Dis)Comfort) of Our Bodies, Ourselves, Anthology, Brooklyn Girl Books.
Research and Academic Affiliations
Nimrod International Journal of Prose and Poetry
Association of Writers and Writing Programs
Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature
Selected Courses Taught
WRA 101 Writing as Inquiry
WRA 195H Writing as Inquiry Honors
Social Media
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kimberlyann.author
Instagram: @kimberlyannpriest.poet