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Jones and Poet Laureate of George Chelsea Rathburn - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.crystalewilkinson.net/new-events-1/2021/10/7/affrilachian-poets-panel-w-frank-x-walker-and-kwoya-maples monthly 0.5 2021-10-03 https://www.crystalewilkinson.net/new-events-1/2021/10/5/university-of-alabama-reading-wfrank-x-walker monthly 0.5 2021-10-03 https://www.crystalewilkinson.net/new-events-1/2021/9/25/women-writers-in-bloom-w-crystal-wilkinson-remica-bingham-risher-b-fulton-jennes-amp-crystal-mercer monthly 0.5 2021-09-21 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b8354de2714e5f713bd89c8/1632245119527-N2VZN2BJTTI483JXTDBO/241048838_4155557291209028_4143131991377099796_n.jpg Events - Women Writers in Bloom w/ Crystal Wilkinson, Remica Bingham-Risher, B. 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https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b8354de2714e5f713bd89c8/e2acdeb8-1e1f-4589-bf32-dc77030dfbd6/FB_IMG_1707930586384.jpg Bio https://www.crystalewilkinson.net/contact daily 0.75 2023-09-13 https://www.crystalewilkinson.net/home-1 daily 0.75 2023-08-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b8354de2714e5f713bd89c8/1543639880136-IWAE56KJLBTB5GP0FKQS/16142352_10154126464077301_5305967505610898905_n.jpg Home - Awards *C.T. Vivian Award for Literary Excellence 2023 *NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Poetry 2021 *O. Henry Award 2021 *Rockefeller Foundation USA Artist Fellowship 2020 *Finalist John Dos Passos Prize 2019 *Appalachian Heritage Writer’s Award 2019 *Ernest Gaines Award for Literary Excellence 2016 *Judy Gaines Young Award 2017 *Weatherford Award in Fiction 2017 *Appalachian Book of the Year 2016 *Named Southerner of the Year by Southern Living Magazine 2016 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b8354de2714e5f713bd89c8/1633525869872-QLAHWKF1BFBGXOL0QUMQ/%232.jpg Home "Crystal Wilkinson's Perfect Black is powerful witch-work. In these cascading lyrics, Wilkinson casts her glittering net of protection over the bodies and hearts of every Black girl. The poet's past self, "a girl, not yet trouble," is a dreamer whose desires -- for love and intellectual play, for spiritual radiance and sexual empowerment -- still carry sweet potency. Here, Black Rapunzel lets down her miraculous ladders of wisdom and vision, while Black grandmothers and church ladies transform into sailboats, safe harbors. Read this book and swerve, in Wilkinson's "perfect cursive," along paths ancestral and deliciously strange." -- Kiki Petrosino, author of White Blood: A Lyric of Virginia https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b8354de2714e5f713bd89c8/1633527805968-4AN0IYQ1QWW2POGJ48CM/242130218_248436707187667_5075323606223984719_n.jpg Home Praise for The Birds of Opulence "Lyrical and visionary, unconventional, and infused with beauty."―Maurice Manning, author of The Common Man, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Poetry "Crystal Wilkinson's Opulence, Kentucky, is small geographically and in population, but the novel's concerns are large―life, death, love, betrayal, despair, and hope. Wilkinson is a lyrical writer, and, once encountered in these pages, her characters and their stories linger in our memories long after the last page is turned. The Birds of Opulence is a novel to be read and reread."―Ron Rash, author of Above the Waterfall "Wilkinson has written a beautiful and tragic intergenerational family epic that is as charged and challenging as it is tremendously moving."― Julianna Baggott, author ofPure "Wilkinson is a fine writer, depicting the characters in her book with a sure hand. This is a book to savor. I recommend it gladly."―Me, You, and Books "The Birds of Opulence is a magical, lyrical novel by award-winning author Crystal Wilkinson."―D.L. Hughley Show "Praised for its lyrical expression, this book is so rich with wisdom, you just might want to read twice."―Brit + Co "Wilkinson's writing is lyrical."―Boston Globe "This lush, lyrical prose is unsurprising from Wilkinson, a critically acclaimed poet and award-winning author. The sumptuous prose and keen insight into the complicated, shifting relationships of one generation to the next will surely bring Wilkinson further recognition for her talents."―Now & Then "It's a book so prismatic that it makes us inquire, long after it ends, about the special and specific processes of nature, both our biomes and human wildness. The Birds of Opulence is categorically lyrical. On the surface, one can hear echoes of predecessors such as Zora Neale Hurston and Toni Morrison. Thus, in The Birds of Opulence, Wilkinson recreates a nuclear family that is literally the beating heart of eco-feminism with all its squash patches and broken water in dirt."―Rain Taxi Review of Books "Wilkinson's novel is a special gift to Kentuckians. It speaks to the love of family and the region, and delivers real life tragedies and joys with honest appraisal. It deserves a spot on the shelf with the masters, James Still, Harriette Arnow, and Wendell Berry."―Louisville Review "Wilkinson is skillful at drawing the reader into the lives of the Goode-Brown women, Minnie Mae, Tookie, Lucy and Yolanda. The struggle of the Browns in coping with their families' shortcomings, albeit no fault of their own, is one reason this book is such a good read."―The Southeastern Librarian https://www.crystalewilkinson.net/awards daily 0.75 2018-12-13 https://www.crystalewilkinson.net/new-page daily 0.75 2022-03-02 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b8354de2714e5f713bd89c8/1633309070228-BHJ6FL7GJPBATPESN58Y/239443509_1251698598634288_7708729783938050908_n%281%29.jpg News - Featured in NYT Book Review "'Sometimes the dead appear in my kitchen,' Wilkinson writes in this collection, which mines her Kentucky girlhood for lyrics (illustrated by her partner, Ronald W. Davis) about family and heritage."―The New York Times https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b8354de2714e5f713bd89c8/1646182366317-LPT50OT73SCSDSNA3AA1/FMKkuIGXEAcHrqv.jpg News - Make it stand out February 22, 2022 – (Lexington, KY) Author and Kentucky Poet Laureate Crystal Wilkinson is the recipient of the 2022 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work - Poetry for her book Perfect Black. Perfect Black was previously the recipient of the Thomas D. Clark Medallion Award, which has been awarded annually since 1994 to writers whose literary achievements highlight Kentucky history and culture. In April of 2021, Perfect Black was listed in The New York Times’ “4 Poetry Books to Read This Week!” An homage to the author’s rural roots in Southern Appalachia, Perfect Black is an intimate portrait of Wilkinson’s life and the experiences that have shaped her character and imbued her style of storytelling with the richness that helped catapult her to the position of Poet Laureate of Kentucky. This collection is written with a vividness of language punctuated by the striking illustrations of Wilkinson’s longtime partner, Ronald W. Davis. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b8354de2714e5f713bd89c8/1633310644063-OQ7E737319UNPX2BVB4O/poetry+foundation.jpg News - Make it stand out “The narrative poems in Perfect Black by Crystal Wilkinson invoke a world with the imagistic and geographic precision of Jean Toomer’s Cane; the witty invitation of Lucille Clifton; and the rolling panoramas of Black life explored in the work of Gwendolyn Brooks.” SEE FULL REVIEW HERE https://www.crystalewilkinson.net/short-stories daily 0.75 2023-08-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b8354de2714e5f713bd89c8/1607982852297-J7HOO9GEI6JWYS1V1SAW/story.jpg Short Stories - endangered species: Case 47401 All black women got this thrumming thing inside us but don’t nobody notice. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b8354de2714e5f713bd89c8/1607980264052-KZUIG245UOLYJ2LUMH5I/oretha.jpg Short Stories - Oretha Black shank nearly took the tobacco crops that summer, and then a plague of grasshoppers swooped down to take the garden. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b8354de2714e5f713bd89c8/1607981035213-8H93424IVVFZ4M6L7ZS4/agni.jpg Short Stories - The way we live now We thought Kendra was playing about him being shot in the first place when we heard the news a few days before he died. https://www.crystalewilkinson.net/foodwriting daily 0.75 2023-08-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b8354de2714e5f713bd89c8/1607972681908-D729CRZRW4BNSJG8I6F2/green+beans.jpg Food Writing Read the essay that inspired a book-long exploration of Black Appalachian Foodways. I wrote these stories so that we never forget to sing the glorious praises of country, Black women and the kitchens they cooked in. PRAISESONGS FOR THE KITCHEN GHOSTS, published by Clarkson Potter/Penguin Random House in January 2024. Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts in Emergence Literary Magazine “People are always surprised that Black people reside in the hills of Appalachia. Those not surprised that we were there, are surprised that we stayed. My family lived in the hills of Kentucky for four generations. My grandmother came from a long line of women who worked hard and cooked well. The long lists of food I’ll describe here will make you think my folks had deep pockets, but they didn’t. Hardworking poor blacks who couldn’t break the barriers of nepotism or racism in education or the workforce, they continued the tradition of farming. Tobacco. Corn. A few head of cattle. A few dairy cows. My grandparents lived primarily off the land. They owned sixty-four acres and had a modest income from the crops they raised. My grandfather prided himself on taking care of his family, his animals, and his land. My grandmother prided herself on making sure her family was fed. I read somewhere once that pride stems from fear. I imagine my grandparents were hungry more than once in their youths, but I never was.” My essay, Covid Kitchen appears in Oxford American’s special food issue edited by one of our queens of cuisine Alice Randall. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b8354de2714e5f713bd89c8/1607972255248-N0B0ER4SCSNWGF8DISDY/recipe+box.jpg Food Writing https://www.crystalewilkinson.net/new-page-2 daily 0.75 2024-08-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b8354de2714e5f713bd89c8/dcb8b53e-5946-422b-89f8-de5b4ac5e982/Screenshot_20230721_180233_Acrobat+for+Samsung.jpg PRAISESONG FOR THE KITCHEN GHOSTS - National Bestseller/ USA TODAY Bestseller Praisesong for the Kitchen Ghosts: Stories and Recipes from Five Generations of Black Country Cooks For media requests/opportunities for PRAISESONG FOR THE KITCHEN GHOSTS, please reach out to Felix Cruz, fcruz@penguinrandomhouse.com https://www.crystalewilkinson.net/new-page-3 daily 0.75 2024-08-04 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5b8354de2714e5f713bd89c8/7b118f89-f318-4880-9011-a9d956439db3/FB_IMG_1674119099332.jpg Awards - Recent Honors/Awards selected