about the author
Kim Edwards
Author of The New York Times Bestselling Novel The Memory Keeper's Daughter
Kim Edwards’ The Memory Keeper’s Daughter was published in paperback in the summer of 2006 and within just weeks simultaneously reached the #1 spot on The New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, and Book Sense bestseller lists. Over one year later, the title continues its reign as a must-read across the nation and a top fixture on The New York Times paperback fiction list. The Lake of Dreams, her highly anticipated second novel, is now available from Penguin.
Kim Edwards has won numerous awards, including a Whiting Award and the Nelson Algren Award and most recently the Kentucky Literary Award for fiction. She is the author of a collection of short stories, The Secrets of a Fire King, which was an alternate for the PEN/Hemingway Award. Her stories and essays have appeared in Ploughshares, Zoetrope, Anteaus, Story, and the Paris Review and have received a National Magazine Award for excellence in fiction and a Pushcart Prize. The Memory Keeper’s Daughter her first novel, was chosen as a Barnes and Noble Discover title and won the British Book Award. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, she currently teaches writing at the University of Kentucky. She lives in Lexington, Kentucky, with her husband and daughters.
Learn more about this speakerPress Links
Kim Edwards Interview
Blog Her
"Kim Edwards Moves Forward"
The Maylasia Star
"A Local Writer's Block"
Chevy Chaser Magazine
"Family secrets"
The Irish Times
"Dreams come true"
The New Zealand Herald
"Review: The Lake of Dreams by Kim Edwards"
Irish Independent
"Kim Edwards resists the call for a sequel to her hit novel"
The Globe and Mail
"Review: The Lake of Dreams by Kim Edwards"
Express.co.uk
"Kim Edwards: Memory Keeper's author has new secret"
Toronto Star
"Edwards' Readers Find Cause to Rejoice"
The Portland Press Herald
Interview with Kim Edwards
The San Diego Union-Tribune
"A new novel from the author of The Memory Keeper’s Daughter"
The Christian Science Monitor
"Author Edwards Dreamed of Success"
The Sacramento Bee
"The Memory Keeper's Daughter Author Returns"
Chicagoist
"Family saga by Kim Edwards vivid, beautifully written"
Winnepeg Free Press
"Author Kim Edwards goes from Memory to Dreams"
USA Today
"Rewriting a family's history"
BookPage
Review of The Lake of Dreams
California Literary Review
"Lexington author Kim Edwards begins tour for The Lake of Dreams"
The Lexington Herald-Leader
The Lake of Dreams Review
The New York Journal of Books
"Best-seller addresses library crowd"
Pekin Times
"A Stirring Family Drama Is a Hit"
The New York Times
"Postpartum Blues"
The Washington Post
"Memory Keeper is top read of 2006"
USA Today
"The story of a regrettable decision that binds 2 families"
The Chicago Tribune
The Memory Keeper's Daughter Review
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
"Separated at Birth"
Time magazine
Review of The Memory Keeper's Daughter
BookReporter.com
The Secrets of a Fire King Review
The Guardian
"Lexington Is Kim Edwards' Old Kentucky Home"
Smithsonian magazine
Readers Discuss The Memory Keeper's Daughter
NPR's "Diane Rehm Show"
The Memory Keeper's Daughter Review
Kirkus Reviews
Featured Book
The Lake of Dreams
"Once again, Edwards (The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, 2005) has created a memorable cast of easily recognizable characters...This is a powerful story about the influence of history, the importance of our beliefs, and the willingness to embrace them all."
—Carol Gladstein, Booklist
Speaking Topics
- Invention and Intention: The Intuitive and the Analytical in the Art of Writing
- When Art Meets Life
View Topic Descriptions »
Speaking Topics — Kim Edwards
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Invention and Intention: The Intuitive and the Analytical in the Art of Writing
In this talk, Kim will explore perspectives on the creative process, looking at the ways in which a wide and disparate array of writers have understood the genesis and growth of their work. In particular Kim will discuss examples from her own writing, both her stories and her novel; she will focus on the interplay between the intuitive discovering of a book (invention) and the analytical shaping of it (intention). In this talk, Kim will refer to several of her stories, as well as to The Memory Keeper’s Daughter. -
When Art Meets Life
Several of Kim’s stories, as well as her novel, grew from the ways in which particular characters intersected with the social and political realities of their times. In this talk, Kim will consider the ways in which contemporary or historical events can inspire fictional accounts, the challenges involved in researching and writing such stories, and the successful weave of fact and fiction. Specifically Kim will look at “A Gleaming in the Darkness,” “The Story of My Life,” and The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, reading from those works and discussing how they came to be.
Please contact us for booking requirements and availability.