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Home > Willie Carver

Willie Carver [1]

Listed as: 
Poet, Fiction Writer
Public address: 
Mount Sterling, KY
Kentucky US
Email: 
williecarver@gmail.com
Bio: 

Willie Edward Taylor Carver Jr. is an advocate, Kentucky Teacher of the Year,  the author of a bestselling collection of narrative poetry about his childhood growing up queer in Appalachia, Gay Poems for Red States (University Press of Kentucky), which was named

  • a Book Riot Best Book of 2023, 
  • a Top Ten Best Book of Appalachia by Read Appalachia, 
  • a top ten 2022 Southern Book in Garden and Gun,
  • an IndieBound and American Booksellers Association’s must-have book of 2022,
  • a 2023 Top Ten Over-The-Rainbow book by the American Library Association, 
  • a 2024 Community of Literary Magazines and Presses Pride Month poem selection,
  • a 2025 Judy Gaines Young Book Award nominee,
  • and awarded a 2024 Stonewall Book Award – Barbara Gittings Literature Honor Book.

Willie has an MFA in creative writing at the University of Kentucky. He publishes and presents on the subjects of education, marginalization, and identity, and his story has been featured on ABC, CBS, PBS, NPR, and in The Washington Post, Le Monde, and Good Morning America. His story was chosen by Jonathan Van Ness as a story to share for education, and his advocacy has led him to engage President Biden and to testify before the United States Congressional Committee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. His creative work has been published in 100 Days in Appalachia, Young Ravens Literary Review, Another Chicago Magazine, Largehearted Boy Blog, Smoky Blue Literary Magazine, Miracle Monocle, Good River Review, Salvation South, and Gay & Lesbian Review.

Carver has spoken across the United States about the impact of the past on our present selves and the ways in which our most underserved students are being harmed by the systems around them. His university speaking engagements University of Kentucky, the University of Tennessee, Morehead State University, Centre College, Universidad Lead de Costa Rica, Berea College, Western Carolina University, Northern Kentucky University, and the Francis Parker School, among many others. He has been invited to speak at Manhattan’s LGBTQ center, Bookmarks of North Carolina, the National Gill Foundation, the American Federation of Teachers, the National Council of Teachers of Foreign Language, Pride at Work, South by Southwest, the Council of Chief State School Officers, and the 2023 International Narrative 4 Conference.

 

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
In which languages are you fluent?: 
English
French
Twitter/X: 
WillieETCarver
Born in: 
Mount Sterling, KY
Kentucky
Raised in: 
Printer, KY
Kentucky
Website: 
http://www.williecarver.com [2]
Prizes won: 

Gay Poems for Red States
○ Book Riot Best Book of 2023 
○ Top Ten Best Book of Appalachia by Read Appalachia 
○Top Ten 2022 Southern Book in Garden and Gun
○ IndieBound and American Bookseller’s Association’s Must-Have Book of 2022
○ 2023 Top Ten Over-The-Rainbow book by the American Library Association
○ 2024 Community of Literary Magazines and Presses Pride Month poem selection
○ 2024 Stonewall Book Award – Barbara Gittings Literature Honor Book Award
○ 2024 Whippoorwill Award Winner
○ 2025 Judy Gaines Young Book nominee

Professional
○ 2023 given title of Honorable Kentucky Colonel
○ 2022 named Kentucky Teacher of the Year

 

Education: 
University of Kentucky
What I'm reading now: 
Late Wife by Claudia Emerson
Elsewhere: An Elegy by Faisal Mohyuddin
Writers Retreats: 
Kentucky Book Festival
Identifies as: 
Appalachian
LGBTQ

Source URL:https://www.pw.org/directory/writers/willie_carver

Links
[1] https://www.pw.org/directory/writers/willie_carver [2] http://www.williecarver.com