Dear Reader,

Welcome to KR Online! A new feature from The Kenyon Review, KRO will be a lively and innovative bridge between the world of the very best print literature and the emerging potential of the electronic universe.

We’ll be offering innovative and delightful stories, poems, essays, memoirs, and reviews online. They will be renewed and refreshed regularly and then collected into electronic “issues” over time.

By and large, pieces appearing electronically will be distinct from work in the printed version of The Kenyon Review. I like to think of those pages as timeless. After all, readers turn to them for pleasure and enlightenment years and even decades after they first appear.

KR Online, however, will definitely be more timely, published more quickly than we’re able to do with print. And the pieces here will also be a little more experimental, a little more “out there.” Who knows?—maybe a little sassier too.

Of course, despite a new flavor, all the great writing on KRO will be held to the same high standards and expectations as The Kenyon Review. They’ll be considered as carefully, copyedited to our exacting standards. This will truly be the best writing from around the world, brought to you in this exciting new medium. After all, it’s our name, our tradition, our reputation on the line as well.

Enjoy. Come back often. And let us know what you think!

David Lynn
Editor

2008 Kenyon Review Short Fiction Contest Winner

We’re happy to announce that Alice Hoffman has chosen Cara Blue Adams’ “I Met Loss The Other Day” from nearly three hundred entries as the winner of the first Kenyon Review Short Fiction Contest.  In her citation, Hoffman notes “many writers tackle loss, what it means and how it affects us: this writer has gotten to the heart of the matter with a unique twist, and in doing so has created a fictional world that is an original. In this world Loss has an entourage, bickers over what is truly lost and what is merely misplaced, is ready to make a deal, administers all forms of heartbreak. I can’t wait to read whatever stories this writer has yet to tell.”

Hoffman chose Megan Mayhew Bergman’s “Afterbirth” and Nick Ripatrazone’s “The Bearberry Elegies” as runners-up.  Each of the stories will appear in the Fall 2008 issue of KR.   

KR Writers Win Awards

We’re happy to announce that Brad Kessler, contributor and instructor in KR’s summer workshop, has been awarded the prestigious Rome prize from the American Academy in Rome for the 2008-2009 year.  The prize includes a stipend and year-long residency.  Kessler plans to work on his book The Goat Diaries, as well as begin work on a new novel.   

We are also happy to announce that KR’s editor at large, G.C. Waldrep, has won the 2007 Dorset Prize from Tupelo Press.  His manuscript Archicembalo was selected by C.D. Wright.  The award carries a $10,000 cash prize.   Archicembalo will be published and distributed internationally in 2009.  

If you are a frequent visitor to kenyonreview.org, you may have noticed some subtle (and not so subtle) changes afoot. We are currently in the beginning stages of a major overhaul of the site. During the coming weeks—and, indeed, months—you may notice some odd colors here or a wonky bit of text there. These anomalies are all part of our effort to simultaneously improve the site while "staying open for business." We hope the end result will be an aesthetically pleasing and rich trove of web-exclusive content such as podcasts, interviews, and more, as well as the consistently excellent works of fiction, poetry and essays that you have come to expect.

If you have any comments or suggestions about the site, please feel free to click my name below and drop me a line. I would love to hear from you.

Thank you for your patience during this exciting period of growth!

Sincerely,
John Pickard
Director of Print and Web Production
The Kenyon Review