Kenny Fries

Poet, Creative Nonfiction Writer

Seattle, WA
Washington US

Author's Bio

Kenny Fries is the author, most recently, of In the Province of the Gods, which received the Creative Capital literature award, The History of My Shoes and the Evolution of Darwin's Theory, which received the Outstanding Book Award from the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights, and Body, Remember: A Memoir. He is the editor of Staring Back: The Disability Experience from the Inside Out, and was commissioned by Houston Grand Opera to write the libretto for The Memory Stone. His books of poems include In the Gardens of Japan, Desert Walking, and Anesthesia. His work has been translated into German, Spanish, and Japanese and has appeared in many places including The New York Times, Granta, Kyoto Journal, Literary Hub, Electric Literature, The Progressive, and Catapult. He wrote the Disabilty Beat column for How We Get To Next. He is the recipient of a Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Arts and Literary Arts Fellowship, and Creative Arts Fellowship from the Japan/US Friendship Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts. Twice a Fulbright Scholar (to Germany and Japan), he has received grants from the DAAD (German Academic Exchange), Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, and Toronto Arts Council. He teaches in the MFA in Creative Writing Program at Goddard College.

Publications & Prizes

Creative Nonfiction

Anthology:
Staring Back: The Disability Experience from the Inside Out (Plume, 1997)
Books:
In the Province of the Gods (University of Wisconsin Press, 2017)
,
The History of My Shoes and the Evolution of Darwin's Theory (Carroll & Graf, 2007)
,
Body, Remember: A Memoir (University of Wisconsin Press, 2003)

Poetry

Books:
In the Gardens of Japan (Garden Oak Press, 2017)
,
Desert Walking (Advocado Press, 2000)
,
Anesthesia (Advocado Press, 1996)
,
The Healing Notebooks (Open Books Press, 1990)
Journals:
American Voice
,
Kenyon Review
, ,
Progressive
Prizes won: 

2019 Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Center Arts and Literary Arts Fellow; 2018 Canada Coucil for the Arts grant, 2017, Canada Council for the Arts grant; 2016-17 Fulbright Scholar to Germany; 2016 Ontario Arts Council grant; 2016 Canada Council for the Arts grant; 2013 DAAD (German Academic Exchange) grant; 2013 Toronto Arts Council grant; 2009 Creative Capital literature award; 2007 Outstanding Book Award from the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights; 2005-06 Fulbright Scholar to Japan;  2002 Creative Arts Fellow, Japan/US Friendship Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
Identifies as: 
Disabled, Jewish, LGBTQ
Prefers to work with: 
Any
Fluent in: 
English
Born in: 
Brooklyn
Raised in: 
Brooklyn, NY
New York
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: May 02, 2019