Donika Kelly (born early 1980s)"A Conversation Between Nikky Finney and Donika Kelly"
(

Nikky Finney Nikky Finney (born Lynn Carol Finney on August 26, 1957, in Conway, South Carolina) is an American poet. She was the Guy Davenport Endowed Professor of English at the University of Kentucky for twenty years. In 2013, she accepted a position at ...

interviews Donika Kelly), ''

Los Angeles Review of Books The ''Los Angeles Review of Books'' (''LARB'' is a literary review magazine covering the national and international book scenes. A preview version launched on Tumblr in April 2011, and the official website followed one year later in April 201 ...

'', November 14, 2016. is an American poet and academic, who is Assistant Professor of English at the

University of Iowa The University of Iowa (U of I, UIowa, or Iowa) is a public university, public research university in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1847, it is the oldest and largest university in the state. The University of Iowa is organized int ...

, where she teaches creative writing. She is the author of the chapbook ''Aviarium'', published with fivehundred places in 2017, and the full-length collections ''Bestiary'' (

Graywolf Press Graywolf Press is an independent, non-profit publisher located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Graywolf Press publishes fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. Graywolf Press collaborates with organizations such as the College of Saint Benedict, the Mel ...

, 2016) and ''The Renunciations'' (

, May 2021). ''Bestiary'' is the winner of the 2015 Cave Canem Poetry Prize, the 2017

Hurston/Wright Legacy Award The Hurston/Wright Legacy Awards program in the United States honors published Black writers worldwide for literary achievement. Introduced in 2001, the Legacy Award was the first national award presented to Black writers by a national organization ...

for poetry, and the 2018

Kate Tufts Discovery Award The Kingsley and Kate Tufts Poetry Awards are a pair of American prizes based at Claremont Graduate University. They are given to poets for their collections of poetry written in the English language, by a citizen or legal resident alien of the U ...

, and was longlisted for the

National Book Award The National Book Awards (NBA) are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors. ...

in 2016 and a finalist for a

Lambda Literary Award Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary Foundation, Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ+ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ+ literatur ...

and a Publishing Triangle Award in 2017. ''The Renunciations'' was a finalist for the 2021

National Book Critics Circle Award The National Book Critics Circle Awards are a set of annual American literary awards by the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) to promote "the finest books and reviews published in English".Anisfield-Wolf Book Award The Anisfield-Wolf Book Award is an American literary award dedicated to honoring written works that make important contributions to the understanding of racism and the appreciation of the rich diversity of human culture. Established in 1935 by Clev ...

for poetry. Kelly earned her MFA in Writing from the

Michener Center for Writers The Michener Center for Writers is a Masters of Fine Arts program in fiction, poetry, playwriting, and screenwriting at the University of Texas at Austin. Bret Anthony Johnston is the current director of the program. Previously, James Magnuson ra ...

and a Ph.D. in English from

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private university, private research university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and railroad magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provide ...

. She is a Cave Canem Foundation Graduate Fellow, the recipient of a Lannan Residency fellowship, and a fellowship to the

Fine Arts Work Center The Fine Arts Work Center is a non-profit enterprise that supports emerging visual artists and writers in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The Work Center was founded in 1968 by a group of American artists and writers to support promising individual ...

Provincetown, Massachusetts Provincetown () is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States census, Provi ...

. Her poems have appeared in ''

The Paris Review ''The Paris Review'' is a quarterly English-language literary magazine established in Paris in 1953 by Harold L. Humes, Peter Matthiessen, and George Plimpton. In its first five years, ''The Paris Review'' published new works by Jack Kerouac, ...

'', ''Foglifter'', and ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', among other journals and magazines, and she is a contributor to the 2019 anthology ''

New Daughters of Africa ''Daughters of Africa: An International Anthology of Words and Writings by Women of African Descent from the Ancient Egyptian to the Present'' is a compilation of orature and literature by more than 200 women from Africa and the African diaspora ...

'', edited by

Margaret Busby Margaret Yvonne Busby, , Hon. FRSL (born 1944), also known as Nana Akua Ackon, is a Ghanaian-born publisher, editor, writer and broadcaster, resident in the UK. She was Britain's then youngest publisher as well as the first black female book p ...

. Kelly lives in

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

with her wife

Melissa Febos Melissa Febos is an American writer and professor. She is the author of the memoirs ''Whip Smart'' (2010) and ''The Dry Season'' (2025) and the essay collections ''Abandon Me'' (2017), ''Girlhood'' (2021), and ''Body Work'' (2022). Early life and ...

Biography

Early years

Kelly was born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, California, in the early 1980s and moved with her family to

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

in the late 1990s.

Education

In 2005, Kelly received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from

Southern Arkansas University Southern Arkansas University (SAU) is a public university in Magnolia, Arkansas, United States. The university had an enrollment of 5,100 undergraduate and graduate students as of fall 2023. History Southern Arkansas University was established ...

. She received a Master of Fine Arts from the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

in 2008. Her thesis was called ''The White Meat.'' In 2009, she obtained a Master of Arts from

. Her thesis, ''Framing the Subject in Natasha Trethewey's Bellocq's Ophelia'', analyzed Natasha Trethewey's book on Ernest J. Bellocq's photography, specifically those of unnamed mixed-race prostitutes. Kelly finished her Ph.D. in English literature from

in August 2013. Her dissertation was titled ''Reading against Genre: Contemporary Westerns and the Problem of White Manhood''. In it, Kelly explains how the way in which society perceives the role of white men is largely influenced by the way they are portrayed in media, with a particular focus on contemporary Western films.

Personal life

She lives in Iowa with her wife, the poet

Awards and honors

* National Book Award, Longlist, 2016 *Bucknell Seminar for Younger Poets, June Fellow, 2004 *James A. Michener Fellow in Writing, 2005–2008 *Provost's Graduate Fellowship, Vanderbilt University, 2008–2013 *University Fellowship, Vanderbilt University, 2008–2013 *Cave Canem Graduate Fellow, 2009, 2011, 2013 *Thomas Daniel Young Award for Excellence in Teaching, Vanderbilt, 2013 *Bayard Rustin Advocacy Award, Office of LGBTQI Life, Vanderbilt, 2015 *Cave Canem Poetry Prize, Winner, 2015 *

Anisfield-Wolf Book Award The Anisfield-Wolf Book Award is an American literary award dedicated to honoring written works that make important contributions to the understanding of racism and the appreciation of the rich diversity of human culture. Established in 1935 by Clev ...

, 2022

Bibliography

Poetry

;Collections * * Briefly reviewed in th
May 31, 2021 issue
of ''

'', p.63. ;Chapbooks * ''Aviarium'' (500 Places, 2017) ;List of poems *"Bedtime Story for the Bruised Heart", "Cartography as an Act of Remembering", "The Three Birds of the Milky Way" and "Labyrinth", ''

Sinister Wisdom ''Sinister Wisdom'' is an American lesbian literary, theory, and art journal published quarterly in Berkeley, California. Started in 1976 by Catherine Nicholson and Harriet Ellenberger (Desmoines) in Charlotte, North Carolina, it is the longest ...

'', 2017 *"The Oracle Remembers the Future Cannot Be Avoided", "Gun Control (Mama)", and "Primer: D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths", ''

Tin House ''Tin House'' is an American literary magazine and book publisher based in Portland, Oregon, and New York City. History Portland publisher Win McCormack originally conceived the idea for a literary magazine called ''Tin House'' in the summer ...

'', 2017 *"In the Chapel of St. Mary's" and "Self-Portrait in Labyrinth", ''Washington Square'', 2017 *"Partial Hospitalization", ''Buzzfeed Reader'', 2016 *"Love Poem: Chimera", ''Gulf Coast'', 2016 *"Construction", "Revelation: Black Bear", "Revelation: White Bear", and "Pony", ''Rockhurst Review'', 2016 *"Bower Bird", "Swallow", and "How to Be Alone", ''Virginia Quarterly Review'', 2016 *"Love Poem: Centaur" and "Love Poem Mermaid", ''Pleiades'', 2016 *"Fourth Grade Autobiography", ''Nashville Review'', 2016 *"Handsome Is", "Little Box", and "Love Letter", ''Gris-Gris'', 2016 *"Acheron" and "Hymn", ''Cincinnati Review'', 2015 *"Ocelot", ''Eleven Eleven Journal'', 2015 *"Statistics", ''Rove'', 2015 *"A Man Goes West and Falls Off His Horse in the Desert" and "Self-Portrait as a Door", ''Tupelo Quarterly'', 2013 *"Arkansas Love Poem", ''The Best of Kore Press'', 2013 *"Love Poem: Griffon", ''West Branch'', 2013 *"Last Rites", ''RHINO'', 2013 *"Tender" and "What Gay Porn Has Done for Me", ''Bloom'', 2012 *"Love Poem: Minotaur" and "Sonnet in Which Only One Bird Appears", ''Vinyl'', 2012 *"The Yard", "Love Song", "Whale", "Arkansas Love Song", and "Where She Is Opened. Where She Is Closed", ''The Feminist Wire'', 2011 *"Archaeology" and "Perhaps You Tire of Birds", ''Crazyhorse'', 2011 *"Whale", ''Hayden's Ferry Review'', 2011 *"Sanctuary", "Where We End Up" and "Brood", in

(ed.), ''

'', 2019.

Theses

* * ——————— ;Notes

Sources

* Kelly, Donika (2013). ''Reading against Genre: Contemporary Westerns and the Problem of White Manhood'' * Kelly, Donika (2009), ''Framing the Subject in Natasha Trethewey's Bellocq's Ophelia''

References

External links

*
Profile
at

Poetry Foundation The Poetry Foundation is a United States literary society that seeks to promote poetry and lyricism in the wider culture. It was formed from ''Poetry'' magazine, which it continues to publish, with a 2003 gift of $200 million from philanthrop ...

"Pushcart Darlings: The Foglifter Interview with Donika Kelly"
Foglifter Press, December 27, 2017. {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Donika 21st-century American poets 21st-century American women writers American LGBTQ poets American women academics American women poets LGBTQ people from Arkansas LGBTQ people from California Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Poets from Arkansas Poets from Los Angeles Southern Arkansas University alumni St. Bonaventure University faculty The New Yorker people University of Texas at Austin alumni Vanderbilt University alumni Year of birth missing (living people)