December 2020

Books for All Seasons

We at the Kenyon Review mark the holiday season every year by asking our editors and staff to recommend great books that they’ve discovered. The tradition provides both a gift guide and an irresistible reading list. It’s also a way of sharing wonder and inspiration—gifts that we value in all seasons, of course, but that seem especially needed as 2020 comes to an end. Think of this December’s edition as a holiday toast: Here’s to the joy of turning the page. Enjoy our holiday reading recommendations

Nonfiction Contest: Submit Now!

Speaking of wonder, December always reminds us that a skilled writer can conjure astonishing depth without going to great lengths. December, because that’s the month we accept submissions for our annual short nonfiction contest, dedicated to essays of no more than 1,200 words. We are accepting entries, online, starting today—December 1—and running through the end of the month. We’ll publish the winning piece in the Mar/Apr issue of KR, and the author will receive a scholarship for the 2021 Writers Workshops. Click here for more information about the contest.

Meet Nicole Terez Dutton, KR’s New Editor

Mark your calendar for the evening of Tuesday, January 12, 2021, when the Kenyon Review and Kenyon College communities will have a chance to meet KR’s new editor, Nicole Terez Dutton. This will be a live virtual event, via Zoom, starting at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. It will feature a welcome by Kenyon President Sean Decatur and a short interview with Dutton by the eminent poet (and KR contributor) Carl Phillips, followed by a question-and-answer session for the online audience. KR Fellows Molly McCully Brown and Misha Rai will read from their work, and Tariq Thompson of the Kenyon Class of 2021 (and a KR intern) will read the poem that earned him the 2020 Adroit Prize. Register in advance for this exciting event.

Save Now on a KR Subscription!

Once again, we’re offering a discount on subscriptions for the holidays. Until December 15, you can get an annual subscription to the Kenyon Review at the special rate of $25—or $30 if you add digital access. That’s 60 percent off the newsstand price. Six issues of KR, brimming with the best in contemporary fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction: it’s a perfect gift for anyone who loves literature—including yourself! To take advantage of this special offer, click here.

Applications Open for Online Translation Workshop

We have begun accepting applications for our 2021 summer workshop, The Translator’s Voice, to be held online from July 11 to 23. Both aspiring and mid-career literary translators will benefit from this workshop, which will immerse participants in their own projects while expanding their skills and perspective through theoretical readings and examples of work by master translators. Seminar-style classes will be supplemented by one-one-one conferences with the instructors, Katherine M. Hedeen and Elizabeth Lowe. By the end of the session, participants will have finished a polished translation that they can continue to prepare for publication. This is an opportunity to learn from accomplished translators while connecting with a worldwide translation community. Click here for more information about the workshop and application process.

On Books and Their Harbors

“Every neighborhood deserves its own indie bookstore,” writes David James Poissant in On Books and Their Harbors, our series in which writers who have launched new books during the pandemic reflect on the communities that have sustained them. Poissant, author of the debut novel Lake Life (Simon & Schuster, 2020), writes specifically about Tombolo Books in St. Petersburg, Florida. Similarly, Marianne Chan, the author of the poetry collection All Heathens (Sarabande Books, 2020), sings the praises of The Writer’s Block in Las Vegas, Nevada. “Not only was it a space to buy books and gather, but it was also where the university writers could mix and mingle with other Las Vegas locals.” Click here to read these pieces as well as others in the series, and to buy the writers’ books.

“A Particular Calculation”: Sakinah Hofler Reads

Our virtual reading series continues this month with fiction writer, poet, and playwright Sakinah Hofler, who will appear, via Zoom, on Monday, December 7, at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Hofler’s disquieting short story “Erasure,” which ran in the May/June KROnline, imagines the mysterious disappearances of people around the world and the dawning sense that these erasures involve “a particular calculation.” The story was chosen for the Kenyon/KR project In My Time: A Narrative Space, which invites participants to explore themes suggested by the pandemic year through reading, writing, and discussion. Click here for more information about the reading. And to learn more about “In My Time,” click here.

From the KR Blog: “Dancing on the Back of God: A Profile of Kazim Ali”

BY KIRAN BHAT

November 16, 2020

But let’s look back for a second at what Ali is writing in “The Voice of Sheila Chandra.” This is not just a rhyme. This is hooting, this is scatting, this is snapping one’s fingers and getting lost in the beat. The rain is not only that which is coming down. The grand singers of old are coming for a moment just to possess Ali’s pen. And with their names is coming a swagger that one rarely feels in a poem. How fitting for a poem channeling the great songstress Sheila Chandra herself. Read Bhat’s entire essay on Kazim Ali, “a poet at his strongest.”

DECEMBER 2020
CONTENTS

Reading Recs
Short Nonfiction Contest
Meet the Editor
Subscription Offer
Translation Workshop
On Books & Their Harbors
Reading Series
From the Blog

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