Thursday, February 17, 2022
4:30pm (CST)
Gailor Auditorium
On February 17 at 4:30 in Gailor Auditorium, Dr. Gwen Kirby will be reading from her debut story collection Shit Cassandra Saw. It's been getting rave reviews, everywhere from Publishers Weekly to National Public Radio. Dr. Gwen Kirby’s debut collection, Shit Cassandra Saw, was recently published by Penguin Books. It’s been called “A stunning collection from a writer whose talent and creativity seem boundless” (NPR) and “stories [that] delight at every turn” (Kirkus Reviews), and “A barnburner of a book that will set you ablaze with its clear-eyed brilliance” (Rachel Yoder, author of Nightbitch). Sewanee’s own Kevin Wilson wrote that the stories were “wildly unique” and filled with “boundless humor.”
Her short story, “Shit Cassandra Saw That She Didn’t Tell the Trojans Because at That Point Fuck Them Anyway” was selected for Best Small Fictions 2018. Kirby was awarded the 2017 DISQUIET Literary Prize for Fiction for her story “Midwestern Girl Is Tired of Appearing in Your Short Stories.” Dr. Kirby has been given two Pushcart Prize special mentions, has been awarded scholarships to the Rivendell Writers’ Colony and the Sundress Academy for the Arts, and was the 2018-2019 George Bennett Fellow at Phillips Exeter Academy.
After graduating from Carleton College, Kirby received an MFA from Johns Hopkins University and a PhD from the University of Cincinnati. Kirby’s stories have appeared in One Story, Tin House, Guernica, Mississippi Review, Ninth Letter, Blackbird, Smokelong Quarterly, and more. Kirby currently works as the Associate Director of Programs and Finance for the Sewanee Writers’ Conference while also teaching creative writing.
