Arkansas Artists and Authors: Kevin Brockmeier

There are so many talented artists and authors here in the state I wanted to try to showcase a few via this blog. I’ll try to highlight as many as I can. Keep me posted if you have any suggestions of artists you’d like to see featured.

This week: Kevin Brockmeier

If you are into fiction, chances are you’ve heard of Little Rock author Kevin Brockmeier. Known for his vivid imagination, his fiction has been translated into 16 languages and received honors including three O. Henry Awards, Borders Original Voices Award and PEN USA awards, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a National Endowment of the Arts grant. 

His newest book, The Illumination, was released Feb. 1. He also is author of the novels The Brief History of the Dead and The Truth About Celia and children’s fiction, including a collection of short stories.

Additionally, Brockmeier’s work has been published in The New Yorker, The Georgia Review, McSweeney’s, The Oxford American, The Best American Short Stories, The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, and New Stories from the South.

He recently was named one of Granta magazine’s best young American novelists. He also taught at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where he received his master of fine arts degree.

According to an article in The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture, Brockmeier is comfortable in Arkansas and plans to stay in the state. “One of the advantages of working as a writer… is that you don’t have to live anywhere in particular to participate in the strongest currents of your art form,” he once said.

“As long as you can sit down with a pen and a sheet of paper one minute and with a copy of War and Peace or One Hundred Years of Solitude the next, you’re basically living right at the center of literary culture.”