Crystal Wilkinson

Crystal Wilkinson is the author of two collections of short stories: Water Street (2002), which is currently a finalist for the Zora Neal Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation Legacy Award in Fiction, and Blackberries, Blackberries (2000), which was named Best Debut—Fiction by Today’s Librarian magazine. Her stories have been published in several anthologies, including Confronting Appalachian Stereotypes: Back Talk from an American Regional, Gifts from Our Grandmothers, Eclipsing a Nappy New Millennium, Home and Beyond: A Half-Century of Short Stories by Kentucky Writers, and Gumbo: Stories by Black Writers. In addition, Crystal’s work has appeared in various literary journals, including Obsidian II: Black Literature in Review, Southern Exposure, The Briar Cliff Review, LIT, Calyx, African Voices, and The Indiana Review.

Crystal is the 2002 recipient of the Chaffin Award for Appalachian Literature and is a member of a Lexington-based writing collective, the Affrilachian Poets. She has presented workshops and readings throughout the country, is the former creative writing chair of the Kentucky Governor’s School for the Arts, and was an assistant director of the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning. She recently served as writer-in-residence at Eastern Kentucky University and now teaches in Spalding University’s M.F.A. program in creative writing.

Author’s web site:
• CrystalWilkinson.com

In the bookclub:
• Blackberries, Blackberries was our September 2001 selection.
• Water Street was our September 2003 selection.