Kirk Wilson

Poet, Fiction Writer

Austin, TX
Texas US
Email: 
kirkwilsonbooks@gmail.com
Website: 
www.KirkWilsonBooks.com

Author's Bio

Kirk Wilson’s books include the story collection Out of Season, the poetry collection Songbox, the poetry chapbook The Early Word, and Unsolved, a nonfiction crime study. Kirk’s fiction, poetry, and nonfiction can be found in Conjunctions, Idaho Review, New England Review, poets.org Poem-a-Day, The Yale Review, and other journals and anthologies. His awards include a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship, the Elixir Press Fiction Award, the Trio House Press Trio Award, Editor’s Awards and other prizes in all three genres, and two Pushcart nominations. Kirk lives in Austin and in Minneapolis. His website is www.KirkWilsonBooks.com.

Writers Retreats: 
Juniper Summer Writing Institute

Publications & Prizes

Fiction

Anthologies:
This Side of the Divide: Stories of the American West (Baobab Press, 2019)
,
The Wordstock 10 (Wordstock Press, 2011)
Book:
Out of Season (Elixir Press, 2023)
Journals:
Conjunctions
,
Idaho Review
,
Meridian
,
Midway Journal
,
New England Review
,
New Guard
,
Story
,
Valparaiso Fiction Review

Poetry

Anthology:
Best Poets of 2018 (Black Mountain Press, 2019)
Book:
SONGBOX (Trio House Press, 2021)
Chapbook:
The Early Word (Burning Deck Press, 1971)
Journals:
Action, Spectacle
,
Confrontation
,
Eclipse
,
Folly Magazine
,
Mudfish
,
River Teeth
,
Soundings East
,
Southern Indiana Review
,
Crazyhorse
,
Woven Tale Press
,
Yale Review
Prizes won: 
  • Action, Spectacle Editor’s Award in Poetry, 2026, for a selection of seven poems.
  • Elixir Press Fiction Award for story collection Out of Season, 2021.
  • Pushcart Prize nomination, 2021. For “Trigger Warning Time.” Nominated by the Editors of The Banyan Review.
  • Trio House Press Trio Award for poetry collection Songbox, 2020.
  • Florida Review Editor’s Award in Creative Nonfiction, 2020. For “Skin the Bunny.”
  • National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Creative Writing, 2018.
  • New Millennium Award for Nonfiction. 2016. For “A Brief and Necessary Madness.”
  • Pushcart Prize nomination. 2013. For “A Brief and Necessary Madness.” Nominated by the Editors of River Teeth. 
  • Byliners Award, Best Nonfiction Book. 1990. For Unsolved. 
  • Georgia B. Lucas Poetry Award. 1967. The University of Texas at Austin.

Personal Favorites

Favorite authors: 
Karen Russell, Joy Williams, Anne Carson, Kazuo Ishiguro, W.G. Sebald, John Berger, John Banville, Olga Tokarczuk, Makenna Goodman, Mary Szybist
What I'm reading now: 
The Changeling by Joy Williams , The Traitor's Niche by Ismail Kadare , American Pastoral by Philip Roth , Quichotte by Salman Rushdie

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Identifies as: 
White
Prefers to work with: 
Adults
Fluent in: 
English
Born in: 
Beeville, TX
Texas
Raised in: 
Austin, TX
Texas
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Jan 30, 2026